Worth the Wait
by Dazzlious
Summary: Hermione and Percy, one of the great love stories of our time — but will they ever get together, or will events conspire against them?
1. Prologue

A/N: _This is a Christmas gift for anyone who might be interested. The story was originally published elsewhere earlier this year because there were a couple of scenes that were far too graphic for this site. However, as a majority of the story is just a proper Christmas love story, full of good cheer and a bit of angst, about Hermione and Percy (who I suspect might actually make quite a good couple), I thought I would take out the naughty bits and re-post it here for you to enjoy as well._

 _I like to think that under that staid and boring exterior, there's a spark of something quite wicked (in a good way) about Percy; that he's not actually at all as his family imagine him to be (remember his joke during the final battle — apologies for any bad memories of what came almost immediately after). Yes, he made his mistakes during the war but he came good at the end so I believe he deserves as much love as anyone else. For the purposes of my story, moving away from the Burrow gave him the chance to see and experience the big wide world in far greater detail than might have been the case had he stayed at home and it's changed him in ways no one expected. Obviously, the story is AU but more so as I've kept Fred alive — I can't deal with him being dead in a story about the Weasleys, sorry, but there it is._

 _Please note that the original story is still available on the other site so I am not plagiarising (my own work). If you've read it before, elsewhere, thank you for reading again. If you're new to the story I hope you enjoy it. As always, I want to thank my beta, Mamacita for her sterling work. Happy Christmas everyone! Dx_

* * *

Hermione felt a great sense of relief as she spotted Percy Weasley standing across the room from her, having just picked up a cup of tea from the refreshments table. She had been invited to this seminar as part of her training for promotion but it wasn't really an area she was particularly interested in and up until now the subjects covered had been pretty dry, none of the speakers inspiring her to stay focussed for more than a few minutes at a time.

In fact, so far, most of them had reminded her of the droning tones of Professor Binns, who had effortlessly managed to make the extremely interesting History of Magic lessons at school sound incredibly dull. However, these days she didn't have the same zeal to absorb all the information she could as she had when she was at school and so she had switched off, taking in only a fraction of the information that was being thrown at her.

During the course of the morning sessions she had half-filled her notepad with doodles of various descriptions and had considered slipping away, ready to feign illness if anyone caught her, certain that her time would be better spent on going back to work, but she had held off; firstly, she suspected her boss wouldn't be very happy if she returned, and secondly, there was no point in leaving work instead, and then mooching around at home on her own when everyone else was still working.

The appearance of Percy considerably brightened Hermione's day. Although he wasn't generally the most popular of the Weasley siblings, Hermione had always got on well with him, better than she got on with the twins, if she was honest. Although Fred and George — and Ron, too, to some extent — considered him to be a boring prat, Hermione had always admired his work ethic and had actually harboured something of a crush on him when she had first met him as a Gryffindor Prefect, a post to which she herself had aspired at the time.

Percy hadn't really taken much notice of Hermione. She was three years younger than him and was a friend of his youngest brother, and although he had been polite enough on the few occasions they interacted there had never been anything more than cursory interest on his part. He had gone on to be Head Boy and then to a responsible job within the Ministry of Magic, working as personal assistant to Bartemius Crouch Senior, the then Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation.

Hermione had actually been proud of him at a time when most of his family seemed to be intent on taking the piss, and even when he had lost his way during Voldemort's return to power, she had always tried to retain her friendship with him, even though she understood the rest of his family's disappointment with his poor choices.

It was during that period that Percy had left the Burrow, to the distress of his mother and sister and the anger of his father and brothers. He had refused to return, even once the war was over, and had forged his own path. Hermione had seen him only sporadically since then; on the very odd occasion when he and his long-term girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, with whom he had been in a relationship since school, much to Hermione's chagrin, attended Sunday lunch at the Burrow with the rest of the family, and even less often at the Ministry of Magic, where Percy had become Head of the Department of Magical Transportation after the war and where Hermione, Harry and Ron now all worked, too.

Although Hermione had fallen into a relationship with Ron, with whom she had spent a turbulent six years at school and several both blissful and more recently incredibly frustrating years after, she had never really got over her crush on Percy and often found herself tongue-tied and awkward whenever she bumped into him. Despite what Ron and his siblings thought, Hermione had always found Percy charming and interesting and the chance to potentially spend the afternoon with him was an exciting prospect for her.

Timidly, she raised her hand and waved at him when he looked in her direction, her heart pattering out a staccato rhythm when he waved back and began walking towards her, a smile on his face. Almost a decade of strictly-controlled desire washed over Hermione as she took in his lean and rangy frame clad in his usual work robes, looking every inch the noble Head of Department, although as she was about to discover there was something far more easy-going about him these days.

The two of them spent the afternoon completely ignoring what was happening at the conference, instead catching up on news from various areas and, to Hermione's surprise, a considerable amount of piss-taking of the other attendees and speakers. Percy's mimicry of just about everyone turned out to be surprisingly good and the two of them spent most of the afternoon trying to stifle their laughter as serious subjects were rendered completely hysterical through the judicious use of his talent.

Once the seminar finally came to an end, much to Hermione's disappointment now that she was having a much better time, Percy invited her to go out for a drink and a bite to eat with him. Not wanting to end the pleasant time she was having and, in truth, unwilling to leave Percy when he was showing more interest in her than he ever had before, Hermione immediately agreed.

She was completely surprised when, after bidding her wait for a few minutes, he returned wearing black jeans and a pale blue t-shirt, pulling a thick blue jumper over his head as he came towards her. Hermione had never seen Percy looking so casual — even when he was at school he had always dressed in a smart and formal way as if he was fifty years older than he actually was — but she liked it. She liked it a lot.

They started with a drink on the deck of the Tattershall Castle, a boat that was moored on the Thames not far from the Ministry of Magic, enjoying the last of the late autumn sunshine which cast a golden glow over the whole of the north bank, a colour picked up by the London planes that lined the street.

Once the sun had set, the night was suddenly chillier, causing Hermione to shiver and wrap herself up in her thick woollen jacket. They walked towards Covent Garden and stopped at a small Italian restaurant for something to eat before heading towards the piazza, happy to wander the market stalls and chat before making their way to the Punch and Judy. A pub crawl around the area followed. Hermione became quite lightheaded from the alcohol she imbibed, although at no time did she ever consider leaving and going home.

The Percy she was with this evening, the Percy she had spent the afternoon joking and laughing with, was nothing like the Percy she remembered from the Burrow, but Hermione still really liked him. In fact, she had to admit that she liked him even more than the old staid, rule-conscious, workaholic Percy. Unfortunately, he was still with Penelope, something she had discovered through careful if somewhat oblique questioning, although as far as she could ascertain they weren't engaged nor were they living together, despite having been a couple for a million years.

When Percy eventually invited her back to his flat for one last brandy and some coffee, Hermione considered it for only a few seconds before agreeing, both eager to see the home he had made for himself away from his family and still unwilling to remove herself from his company.


	2. Chapter 1

'Here comes Percy at last,' Molly Weasley said happily as she looked out of the window. She turned to take the kettle off the stove and poured the boiling water into an enormous teapot. 'I think we're all here now, aren't we?'

Hermione felt her heart beat more rapidly at Mrs Weasley's words. She wondered whether she could leave the room before the errant son arrived but knew she was too late, the door was already opening. In a few seconds he would be in the kitchen with them.

She was going to see Percy again.

Hermione was surprised and a little disconcerted to feel the nervous butterflies swooping around in her stomach at the thought of seeing him but then realised it was quite natural. When she had finally left him, the day after giving herself to him so completely, she was elated from their lovemaking and fully expected him to contact her again within days, if not hours, to continue the relationship she was only too happy to become involved in.

But after a week, she still hadn't heard from him and she began to wonder whether Percy really had meant what he had said. As another week rolled by and then another, still with no word from him, Hermione began to realise that Percy had just been playing with her. He obviously had no intention of making her his girlfriend, and she suddenly understood why he hadn't mentioned anything about her relationship with Ron.

Over the weeks since she had last seen him it had become clear to Hermione that once Percy had sobered up and realised what he had done with her, his guilt had kept him as far away from her as possible. He hadn't even contacted her to admit he had made a mistake and apologise for raising her hopes. Instead, in an act of cowardice that hurt far more than she wanted to admit, he had just ignored her completely.

She was just glad that she hadn't told anyone else about what had happened between them that night, otherwise her life wouldn't be worth living. At least no one knew there had ever been anything between them except the occasional friendship and hopefully, she could keep it that way. When she had ended her relationship with Ron she kept it general, saying the things both of them knew but had never got round to admitting to each other, not yet sure that she wanted him to know about her love for his brother. Now she was glad she hadn't told him.

Hermione now understood that Percy didn't love her, as he had told her he did that night when she had done things with him she had never even considered doing with anyone else. He had only told her that to get her to do what he wanted, and stupid fool that she was, she had believed him, thinking that even with all the changes he had made to his life, deep inside he was still essentially the same staid and trustworthy Percy she had always known.

Upset and bitterly disappointed by Percy's treatment of her, Hermione had briefly considered trying to rekindle her relationship with Ron, but she knew it was no good. She didn't love Ron and however much she tried she never would. He would always be her best friend, of that she had no doubt, but she was in love with Percy and it hurt to know that she wanted him so very badly, whilst he had taken what he wanted from her then discarded her without even a word.

Now she was going to have to face him again, and in front of all his family, too. She could feel her breathing quicken as her heart continued to pound. God, she had to calm down or she was going to make a complete fool of herself.

Fortunately, Mrs Weasley was still busy making tea and hadn't noticed her distress. That was a good thing, or being as tactless as she could be sometimes she was sure to say something. Hermione glanced at Ron but he was still reading the newspaper and hadn't realised that something momentous was about to occur either.

'Afternoon all.' Percy's voice sounded pompous as he stuck his head round the door, his body following a moment later. 'Sorry we're late. We haven't missed anything, have we?'

Hermione looked up at Percy's words, determined to smile and be happy, wanting to make him realise what he was missing by not contacting her. But the smile froze on her lips when she saw the woman who walked into the room behind him and she was sure that for a moment her heart had actually stopped beating. What was _she_ doing here?

'Penny was running late and, of course, I didn't want to come without her,' Percy said. 'Still, we made it eventually.' He kissed his mother on her cheek, taking the offered mug of tea.

Penelope Clearwater, the woman Hermione hated more than any other person in the world at that moment, smiled as she, too, kissed Molly before taking a mug.

'Thank you, Molly,' she said pleasantly. 'I did tell Perce to come along without me and I'd catch up, but you know what a sweetheart he is.' She simpered at her boyfriend. 'He wouldn't think of it and insisted on waiting for me. I hope we're not _too_ late, are we?'

'Of course not, Penny dear,' Molly replied happily. 'We're just waiting for Arthur. He had to go to a meeting this afternoon and hasn't got back yet. Everyone else is around here somewhere, in the garden or the lounge or wherever. You're welcome to go and find them and say hullo.'

She looked fondly at her son. 'If you want to take your stuff upstairs you can get settled in. You're in your old room, sharing with Charlie — now don't look like that, Percy,' she admonished having spotted the baleful look he gave her at this pronouncement. 'We're at a premium for space around here with the whole family at home and it's only for a couple of days,' she continued cheerfully. 'Penny will be sharing with Hermione and Ginny — a bit of a squash, but I'm sure you girls will manage to rub along okay, won't you?'

'I'm sure it'll be great fun, won't it, Hermione?' Penny said, smiling as she looked towards the table where Hermione was sitting.

Hermione had to fight hard to bite down the comment she wanted to make and to push from her mind the vision of her strangling the saccharine woman. Penny had always been too sweet and squeaky-clean for her liking but now she hated her with a vengeance. Penny, standing in the kitchen at that moment, was an unpleasant reminder of how badly Percy had used her. Unable to speak, she smiled weakly and nodded.

'Oh, hullo, Hermione,' Percy said pleasantly as he walked towards the table. 'How's things? I see you're still keeping my brother under control.' He bent down at Ron's side. 'What's that you're reading, Ronald?'

Hermione pulled her hands under the table, clenching them tightly into fists as she rapidly counted to ten in an attempt to calm down.

'I'm good, thank you, Percy, and I hope you are as well?' Hermione was pleased to hear her voice sounded almost normal. Without waiting for his answer, she stood up. 'Come on, Penny. Let's leave the boys to it. I'll help you take your stuff up to Ginny's room.'

Hermione saw Percy stare at her but was unable to work out what the look meant. Determined to prove she didn't care about him she gave him the biggest smile she could manage before walking out of the kitchen.

* * *

'I was going to contact you, Hermione,' Percy said quietly.

He had cornered her in the lounge after they had all moved in there after dinner. She had managed to avoid being anywhere near him until then, but as she had helped Mrs Weasley clear up after the meal, everyone else was already in conversation when she entered the room and she hadn't had time to join in elsewhere before he collared her, pulling her towards the Christmas tree as if examining it as they talked.

'So what stopped you, then?' Hermione asked offhandedly.

Percy looked a little hurt at her tone. 'I've been really busy . . . with work.' He looked around quickly to make sure no one was looking at them then took Hermione's hand, squeezing it tightly. 'I'm really sorry, darling.'

Hermione pulled her hand away, responding tartly, 'Why are you sorry? For not contacting me or for not ending it with _Penny,_ and instead bringing her here to play happy families?'

'Hermione, I—'

'Forget it, Percy,' Hermione hissed angrily. 'You got what you wanted. No need to pretend it was something it so clearly wasn't. I just wish I'd realised because I wouldn't have . . . .' She broke off, realising she was about to lose it and she didn't want to make a scene in front of everyone else.

'Hermione, please,' Percy sounded as unhappy as she felt. 'Give me a chance to explain.'

'I can't talk to you, Percy,' she said quietly, 'not now.'

She started to move away. Percy grabbed her arm. 'Then meet me later, after everyone's gone to sleep. Please, darling, I _need_ to talk to you.'

Hermione shook her head. 'That's ridiculous. There are too many people here. Anyway, I don't want to talk to you. We've got nothing to talk about.'

'That's not true and you know it,' Percy whispered in her ear. 'Meet me in the kitchen at three o'clock. Everyone will be asleep by then, and if they aren't we're just getting up to get a drink.' Hermione continued to shake her head as Percy talked. 'Please,' he pleaded.

She gave an ostentatious sigh. 'Okay, I'll get up at three. But if there's anyone else around I'm going straight back to bed and that will be it. I don't want tomorrow ruined by stupid discussions.'

Percy stroked her arm for a moment. 'I'll see you later,' he said, sounding happier.

Hermione walked away from the Christmas tree and joined Ron and Harry where they were sitting with Ginny playing Exploding Snap. She watched them as they finished their game, both boys getting annoyed when Ginny won, then sat down to join in the next game. She tried to concentrate on the cards but found herself looking over at Percy several times. He was talking to Bill and Fleur and Penny had joined him, sliding into his arms as she gave him a big kiss. He stood with his arm around her waist as the two couples talked. Hermione grimaced with disgust.

'Are you all right, Hermione?' Ginny asked after she had easily won the game, looking worriedly at her friend. 'You don't look very happy and you're playing really badly this evening.'

'I'm okay,' Hermione said, trying to flash a small smile. 'I've just got a bit of a headache, that's all, and I'm finding it hard to concentrate. Do you think anyone would say anything if I called it a night?'

Ginny smiled sympathetically. 'Of course not. With the number of people in here I doubt anyone will even notice you've gone. Do you need anything for the headache? We don't want you being ill and missing all the fun tomorrow.'

Hermione shook her head. 'I've got some Ibuprofen tablets in my case. I'll take some of those. I'm sure I'll be fine after a good night's sleep.' She rose and having given Harry and Ron a brief hug goodnight she made her way up the stairs to Ginny's room.

Percy watched her go, looking worriedly after her. Penny noticed.

'What are you looking at?' she asked, giving him a squeeze.

'Hermione,' he answered quietly. 'I hope she's all right.'

'She certainly doesn't look very happy,' Penny said. 'Perhaps she's not getting on very well with Ron. They don't seem to be particularly close anymore.' She giggled. 'Not everyone can be as much in love as we are, Perce. I'm sure she'll be fine in the morning, though, once Santa's been. Everything will be fine in the morning.' She hugged him tightly.

Percy looked at Hermione's retreating back.

'I hope so,' he said softly. 

* * *

'Come to the barn with me,' Percy said, taking her hand as Hermione entered the kitchen. He had been right; they were the only ones still awake.

'I'm not going out there, it's cold,' Hermione replied, sounding unhappy.

'Please, Hermione. We can't talk properly in here in case someone comes down.' He stared at her intently. 'Do you want me to get down on my knees and beg you? I will if that's what it takes.'

Hermione sighed loudly, and tipped her head back, staring at the ceiling as if in exasperation, then she looked back at him. 'No, of course not, Percy. Come on then, let's get this over and done with so I can get back to bed.'

She watched as Percy unlatched the door, opening it slowly to ensure it made no noise. She shivered as she stepped outside into the cold garden and wrapped her dressing gown tighter around herself before following him to the barn. Neither of them said a word as they walked, the frost-covered grass crunching loudly beneath their slippered feet in the still night air.

As soon as they entered the barn Percy grabbed Hermione, wrapping his arms around her tightly as his mouth covered hers, tongue pushing into it as he kissed her deeply. Hermione kissed him back but as soon as the kiss finished she pulled out of his arms, moving away from him before he could hold her again.

'Hermione, darling, please let me hold you,' Percy said, sounding agonised. 'I really want to be with you. You know how I feel about you.'

Hermione snorted derisively. 'Do I? You told me you loved me, Percy. You told me you were going to finish with Penny because you didn't want to be with her any longer, you wanted to be with me,' she said, trying not to cry. She wrapped her arms around herself, needing the comfort it brought. 'Instead, you completely ignore me for over a month then bring the woman you assured me you had no feelings for to spend Christmas with your family and you play all lovey-dovey with her in front of me. How the hell am I supposed to know _what_ you feel for me?'

'I do love you, Hermione,' Percy said, looking contritely at her. He moved a step nearer. Hermione shook her head and moved back a step. 'I honestly am sorry about Penny being here but Mum invited her and I really didn't know what to do for the best.'

'You said you were going to break up with her,' Hermione said accusingly. 'You told me you wanted me to be your girlfriend, remember?'

'And I meant it,' Percy replied. 'Believe me, Hermione there's nothing I want more. You've no idea how I felt when I woke up and you were still lying next to me that morning. It was the most wonderful feeling I'd ever had in my whole life. Everything was finally completely perfect.'

'So why didn't you do anything about it, then? All you had to do was split up with Penny and send me a message or something,' Hermione said sounding distraught. 'Surely that wasn't too hard to do, was it?'

'I know I've been incredibly stupid,' Percy said ruefully. 'But I really was extremely busy with work. There was a major problem with the Ministry's entire fleet of cars, which took me weeks to sort out and lots of sleepless nights so I didn't have time to contact you, and then as time went on I began to doubt that you really meant what you said.

'Stupidly, I convinced myself that if you really wanted our relationship to continue you would have made some attempt to contact me, and because you didn't you had changed your mind about us. It honestly didn't occur to me that you needed me to contact you first. I became convinced that you had only done it because you were drunk, so then I didn't want to remind you of it, especially if you were embarrassed about what had happened.

'But because of all that bloody work I didn't get a chance to talk to Penny either, and then when I did manage to finally get hold of her I discovered Mum had already invited her here for Christmas and she had accepted and started buying presents for everyone, so it was too late for me to split up with her then without causing a major problem. By that time I had convinced myself that you didn't want me and had decided you would rather stay with Ron.'

'So what were you going to do,' Hermione asked, sounding a touch belligerent, 'just ignore me and hope I'd go away?'

'I was going to do whatever you wanted. I thought you'd changed your mind about me, remember? But as soon as I saw you this afternoon I knew it didn't matter if you didn't want us to be a couple any longer because I was going to fight for you anyway. I'm completely in love with you, Hermione, and I want to be with you, not Penny. That's why I had to speak to you tonight, so I could tell you that.

'If you really want me to leave you alone I will, but it won't stop me from loving you and wanting you to be mine. Unfortunately, we're stuck with things as they are for the next few days, but I promise you as soon as Christmas is over I will talk to Penny and I'll end it with her.'

'You promised that before,' Hermione said quietly. 'I did things with you I'd never done with anyone else, Percy because you said we were a couple. But we weren't.'

'But we are,' Percy said gently, 'or at least we will be properly after Christmas. Please, Hermione, don't desert me now. I want so much with you and it will happen. I promise, my love.'

Hermione still looked apprehensive but she didn't move any further away, even when Percy walked towards her and pulled her into a kiss that went on for several minutes.

'I want to make love to you,' he told her, several kisses later.

'We should go back to the house,' Hermione replied worriedly. 'What if someone wakes up?'

'They won't,' Percy said, his voice soothing. He had been untying Hermione's dressing gown and his hands slid into the top of her nightdress to stroke her breasts as he kissed her again, fairly certain that despite her bluster she wanted to be with him as much as he wanted her. 'They're all asleep and dreaming of Father Christmas.'

Hermione couldn't help but grin. 'Well, I don't think I'll be getting many presents from him this year. I haven't exactly been a good girl.'

'Oh, I don't know,' Percy said, raising his eyebrows lewdly. 'I thought you were _very_ good.' One hand lifted her nightdress, the other stroked her bottom. 'Let me give you your Christmas present, darling.'

'I hope it's something I want,' Hermione said breathily. Her hand stroked the front of Percy's pyjama bottoms, causing him to give a sharp gasp.

'Mmmm . . . I can guarantee you'll want it,' Percy said, his voice darker now. His hands were still working to remove Hermione's dressing gown and nightdress. 'And better still, it's _exactly_ what I want for Christmas as well.'

Hermione didn't even notice the cold air of the barn as her clothes were removed. Already aroused by Percy's touches, her skin burned with the desire coursing through her body. As they kissed again and again, she pulled off his dressing gown and then his pyjamas, her hand caressing him in return.

'Happy Christmas, Percy,' she whispered as he pulled her to the floor; his lips finding hers, cutting off the salutation as their hands moved, exploring and arousing, their bodies melded together as if they had always meant to be joined.

For a long time afterwards they lay holding each other, enjoying being together, knowing it was likely to be the last time until the festivities were over as there were too many people staying at the Burrow for them to get much time alone.

Eventually, they knew they had to go back to the house. Reluctantly they re-dressed, kissing each other whilst they did so. Then, after one final magnificent kiss they made their way quickly back to the Burrow. Once inside the kitchen, Percy pulled Hermione to him, gently stroking her face as he gazed at her adoringly.

'Happy Christmas, Hermione,' he whispered as his lips brushed over hers.

'Happy Christmas, Percy,' she replied breathlessly before pulling away and leaving him alone in the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 2

'How's your headache?' Ginny asked as she sat next to Hermione in the kitchen, eating breakfast.

'Much better now thanks,' Hermione said. She smiled at Ginny. 'Can you pass the teapot, please? I'm not sure I can eat anything, not knowing the size of the meal your mum's preparing for later, but I definitely need lots of tea to get me going.'

'Morning girls, Happy Christmas,' Arthur said cheerfully as he entered the kitchen.

He walked over to the stove where Molly was already busy cooking and wrapped his arms around her, whispered something in her ear, then gave her a kiss on the cheek. She gave a small squeal of pleasure then batted him away, both of them looking a little pink in the face. He joined Ginny and Hermione at the table.

'Are you the only two up?' he asked with interest.

Ginny nodded. 'Penny's still asleep. She snores like a pig,' she said with a grimace. Hermione stifled a laugh whilst Arthur looked surprised. 'Well she does,' Ginny said defensively. 'You've got to admit it, Hermione.'

'It's true, I'm afraid,' Hermione said, then took a sip of her tea to cover the laugh.

'None of the boys up, either?' Arthur said disbelievingly. 'I remember a time when you all used to be up before the crack of dawn wanting to see what Father Christmas had left you. Now we can't drag you out of bed until lunch is on the table.' He helped himself to some toast and began to butter it, then retreated behind the previous day's newspaper as he ate.

'I think the twins are around somewhere,' Molly said. 'They were up early, as usual. Although Merlin knows what they're up to.' She rolled her eyes despairingly.

Hermione yawned. 'I could probably have done with another couple of hours.'

'At least you had an early night,' Ginny said reproachfully, 'so you got a couple of hours sleep before the Pig started.'

'Ginny, don't call her that,' Molly said, turning to glare at her daughter. 'It's not nice.'

'Neither's she,' Ginny said unapologetically. 'Anyway, at least we're not likely to be saddled with her once Christmas is over.'

'What makes you say that?' Molly asked curiously.

Hermione felt her heart skip a beat, then increase in pace. Had she and Percy been found out?

Ginny shrugged. 'Dunno, really,' she said, 'but I don't think Percy's all that keen on her these days. I've seen the way he looks at her sometimes; as if he wishes she would shut up and go away.' She took a sip of her tea. 'You know, it wouldn't surprise me if he's seeing someone else,' she mused. 'He's changed quite a bit since he moved away from the Burrow, become far more dominant, and I don't think drippy Penny is what he's looking for now.'

Hermione sipped her own tea and hoped she wasn't blushing. She had forgotten how perceptive Ginny could be when she wanted.

'But they've been together for years,' she pointed out.

Ginny shrugged again. 'You were in love with Ron for years but it didn't take you long to fall out of love, did it?'

Molly looked around from the stove again at this comment and stared intently at Hermione, who knew she was blushing this time.

'It's not that I'm not in love with him,' she said, trying to work out what she was going to say as she went. 'I think I'll always be in love with Ron to some extent, but after we became more intimate I think we realised he and I are better off as friends rather than as boyfriend and girlfriend. He's more like my brother.'

Hermione was relieved to see that Molly had relaxed a little and turned back to her cooking.

Ginny nodded. 'He's always been a prat with girls. Remember when he was with Lavender? Urgh . . . actually . . . let's not. You know, maybe you should go out with Percy, Hermione.'

Hermione looked at her friend in surprise. 'What makes you say that?'

Ginny grinned wickedly. 'You both love working and you're both a pair of know-it-alls. I think you'd make a really good couple.'

'Determined to get me married off to a Weasley, eh, Ginny?' Hermione said with a smile.

Ginny shrugged. 'Well, there's plenty to choose from still, although I won't deny you getting Percy away from the Pig would cheer me up no end.'

Molly turned angrily at Ginny's mention of Penny again and shooed them out of her kitchen.

'I might go for a walk,' Hermione said, looking at the clear blue sky outside the kitchen window. 'Do you want to come, Ginny?'

Ginny wrinkled her nose. 'Nah. I'm going to get my lazy-arse brother and my boyfriend out of bed, see if I can find the twins and have a game of Quidditch. I might even get Bill and Charlie involved if I can get them to stop talking long enough. Come and find us when you get fed up with walking.'

'Wrap up warmly, Hermione,' Molly advised. 'It looks lovely but it's freezing out there.'

Hermione left the kitchen and headed back towards Ginny's bedroom. Ginny continued climbing the stairs to get to Ron's room.

'Pig!' she whispered with a grin as she went past her room, hearing Penny still snoring loudly.

Smiling, Hermione pushed open the door to the bedroom and entered, finding her hat, gloves and scarf as well as her boots and coat. She quietly left the room, Penny still fast asleep.

Hermione gasped as she stepped out the kitchen door, the cold hitting her like a wall after the heat of the kitchen. She rapidly closed the door before too much heat escaped. Already she could feel the skin on her cheeks tightening as the cold caressed them and she pulled her hat down more firmly to ensure her ears were well covered. She hated it when they got cold.

She wasn't entirely sure where to go as there wasn't a lot to see in the area. The small village of Ottery St Catchpole was a short walk away but everything would be closed as it was Christmas Day. The only other things in the area were fields. She thought for a moment then decided she would walk to the village and back anyway, then see if the others had emerged by that time to play Quidditch. She walked across the garden, heading for the lane. But as she approached the barn she discovered where the twins had got to. They emerged as she walked past the door and before she could continue the two men grabbed an arm each, easily picking her up and carrying her back into the barn with them.

'Happy Christmas, Hermione,' Fred said with a grin as they released her.

'Yeah, Happy Christmas, Hermione,' George added, his grin just as wide.

'Happy Christmas to you both, too,' Hermione answered. She stared at them suspiciously. 'Why did you carry me in here?'

'It's cold out there,' Fred said. 'It's much warmer in here.'

'Not that much,' Hermione pointed out with a chuckle. 'It's just a bit less windy, that's all. I was going for a walk. Ginny's looking for you, she wants to play Quidditch – once she can get Ron and Harry up, that is.'

'Not really interested at the moment,' George said dismissively.

Fred shook his head, too. 'We've got better things to do than play Quidditch.'

'Really?' Hermione looked at the twins with interest. 'I didn't think there was much to do around here, especially today.'

'Oh, you just have to know where to look for your entertainment,' Fred told her.

'And at the moment it's right here,' George said, pointing at the ground in front of Hermione.

Hermione looked confused. 'What, here in the barn?'

She looked around but couldn't see anything that seemed particularly interesting, at least not to her.

'That's right. Right here,' George repeated.

The twins gazed at Hermione intently.

'Why are you looking at me like that?' Hermione asked. After a few seconds of being stared at she was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

'You really are very beautiful, you know, Hermione,' Fred said.

Hermione blushed. 'Erm, thank you, I think,' she replied, feeling a little embarrassed.

'I'm not surprised Percy wants to shag you senseless,' George said with a grin.

'Yeah, 'cos we'd really like to do the same,' Fred added.

Hermione felt a cold chill spread through her body. 'What on earth are you talking about?'

Fred laughed. 'You and Percy in here this morning, shagging each other's brains out. I wonder what darling Penny would have to say about that or our dear little bro'? I mean, you are still his girlfriend, aren't you?'

Hermione could feel the heat in her face and a gnawing sensation in her stomach. Somehow the twins had discovered what she and Percy had done, and as it was the twins there was little point in trying to deny it.

'But how do you know that?' she asked slowly.

George laughed this time. 'We saw the two of you out the window heading for the barn so we came to see what you were up to . . . and very illuminating it was, too.'

'You were both very passionate,' Fred added.

'And you want me to know about this, why?' Hermione asked.

'This is where the entertainment bit comes in,' George confided happily.

Hermione looked at them both for a moment. 'Go on then, I'll bite. What entertainment?'

Fred chuckled. 'You, me and George of course, Hermione. My brother and I want what Percy's getting.'

Hermione stared at them in shock. 'You want me to have sex with you?'

'Of course we do,' George said, as if it was obvious. 'You let us shag you and we won't tell your other halves what you and Percy were getting up to in here this morning.'

They moved closer to Hermione.

'You know, the two of us could give you double the pleasure you got from Perce,' Fred said. He leant in as if to whisper in her ear. 'Just imagine us both shagging you at the same time, Hermione. Bet they'd hear you coming in the village.'

'Yeah, right, but that's not going to happen.'

'Are you sure about that?' Fred asked.

'It's certainly going to make for an interesting Christmas Day dinner table conversation,' George added wickedly. 'Be sensible about this, Hermione.'

'Let's face it, we know you like getting shagged,' Fred said, 'and you're certainly adventurous enough. So is it really going to be so hard to play with two gorgeous guys like us?'

'Well, you know, to be honest, one gorgeous guy and Fred,' George said, smirking.

'It doesn't matter how gorgeous you are or not,' Hermione said coldly. 'I'm not interested in having sex with you, especially not if you're trying to blackmail me.'

'And yet you let Percy shag you,' George said, sounding confused. 'He's not gorgeous. What's he got that we haven't?'

'That's for me to know,' Hermione said with a wicked grin. She thought about Percy's piercings and his tattoos, which had come as a pleasant surprise for her the first time they had made love. She was sure he hadn't shared those with any of his family. She had noticed that even the tongue stud was hidden beneath a concealment charm.

'I can't believe you're turning us down,' Fred said.

Hermione looked at him in surprise. 'Why not? Surely you didn't honestly think your plan to blackmail me would work, did you?'

'Are you really willing to ruin everyone's Christmas dinner because of your selfishness?' Fred asked.

Hermione snorted. ' _My_ selfishness? How am I being selfish? You're the ones threatening to ruin everyone's Christmas by revealing something you shouldn't even know anything about in the first place.

'As it happens, Ron and I are no longer a couple, so actually I don't really care what you say as it won't have any effect on me . . . or him. You might want to discuss it with Percy first, though, as it will be his relationship that you'll be casting aspersions on; although to be honest I'm not sure anyone would believe you, anyway.

'Percy and Penny have been pretty inseparable for years now and seem to have a nice solid relationship. No one but you two knows that Percy and I have even talked to each other, let alone done anything else. So nice try, boys, but no banana, I'm afraid.

'Now, if you've finished with your blackmail I'm going to go for my walk. I suggest you go and find Ginny and play some Quidditch to take your mind off things and get rid of any frustration you might be feeling.'

She was a little surprised that the twins didn't say anything else, nor did they try to stop her from leaving. Hermione's heart was hammering as she left the barn and walked rapidly down to the gate, taking the road to the village. Surely they wouldn't say anything, would they?

The twins were opportunists, they always had been, but the fact they had given up in their blackmail attempt so rapidly showed that they hadn't really expected her to give in; it was just wishful thinking on their part.

As she walked, she couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if she had said yes to the twins. She had no doubt that Fred and George would be able to give her a considerable amount of satisfaction but if she was honest, she had never seen the two jokers as anything other than annoying big brothers and that wasn't likely to change any time soon.

She had initially been attracted to Percy because he was, as Ginny had pointed out, the same as she – hard working, diligent and not inclined towards slacking and mucking around. They had always got on well enough at school and every time she had visited the Burrow while he still lived there, and that sort of commitment to work was something she found attractive – although admittedly not enough to attempt to wrest him away from the cloying Penny, as she had always thought them the unbreakable couple.

But the significant changes Percy had undergone since moving into his own flat had been enough to take her beyond merely fancying him and into desiring him; so much so that she had eventually ignored her usual good sense and with inhibitions lowered by alcohol had allowed him to lure her into his bed and everything that went with that, even though she knew that what they were doing was completely wrong while both of them were still in other relationships.

Discovering he was a far more passionate man than she had ever given him credit for, Hermione had allowed him to take control and lead her into doing things that once upon a time she would never have imagined doing, although to be fair, that might have been only because Ron wasn't the most inspirational lover ever and certainly had none of Percy's flair.

The seemingly staid and priggish man had a dark and enticing side to him that was impossible not to love, for Hermione at least, as had been shown last night. Even though she had been upset about Penny and annoyed with Percy for his treatment of her, Hermione had crumbled as soon as Percy kissed her, taking at face value his assertion that he was in love with her, too. She truly hoped that was the case as she was completely crazy about him. She wasn't sure how she would cope if it turned out that he had fooled her twice and was still going to continue his relationship with Penny despite everything he had told her and that they had done together.

Hermione reached the village where everything was, as she had expected, locked up and silent. Even the old church appeared to be deserted and she couldn't work out whether it was too early or too late for the service. Not that she would attend, anyway. She had never been religious, even before discovering she was a witch.

She shivered, feeling the cold now, and rubbed her gloved hands together in an attempt to warm up, then turned round to head back the way she came. Hopefully, once she got back to the Burrow she would be able to have another cup of tea to warm her up. She regretted not having had anything to eat as her stomach was rumbling, even though she knew she would be stuffed from the massive lunch Mrs Weasley was already preparing.

As she reached the garden she could hear the sounds of shouting in the distance. Ginny had obviously managed to rouse the rest of the family and get them out into the field. But Hermione felt it was too cold to stand around watching the Quidditch and she didn't play the game, so instead she decided to go and offer her services to Mrs Weasley. She just hoped that Penny wasn't going to be there, too, otherwise it could be rather difficult.

Unfortunately for Hermione, although she was initially alone in helping Mrs Weasley with preparing the vegetables, Penny soon joined her, as did Percy, neither of them keen on joining the others for Quidditch, and the atmosphere in the kitchen soon became rather uncomfortable.

Hermione wanted to leave, not happy about being stuck with the ever-twittering Penny, but with so many mouths to feed there was plenty of preparation work that still needed to be done and she felt too guilty to leave after she had offered to help. Instead, she sat quietly, trying not to look at the couple on the other side of the table as she scored crosses into the base of the sprouts she had just finished peeling.

The door opened and the Quidditch players entered the kitchen, bringing a stream of cold air with them. Hermione shivered.

'Ah, look at the happy family,' Fred said, stopping in the kitchen rather than following the rest of the tribe out into the hall.

'Yes, indeed. You're a lucky boy, Percy, having these two lovely ladies fawning all over you. I just don't know how you do it, mate,' George added with a wink.

Hermione glared at the twins. Although Percy had no idea that Fred and George knew about his tryst with her, he looked as uncomfortable at their comments as she felt.

'Percy's a wonderful man,' Penny simpered. 'I'm surprised there aren't more people who fancy him, although obviously I'm glad there aren't.'

Fred and George sniggered, although they both looked a little disgusted at the idea of Percy being considered fanciable.

'Oh, yes, I'm sure everyone's just _dying_ to get Percy into bed, aren't they, Hermione?' Fred said, giving her a sly smile as he spoke.

'If you've got nothing better to do than poking fun at people perhaps you could grab a knife and peel some potatoes,' Hermione suggested tartly.

'I don't think so. We wouldn't want to get in the way of Percy and his harem,' George said. 'Anyway, we've got better things to do.'

'Away from the kitchen, I hope,' Hermione retorted.

'What's the matter, Hermione, do we make you feel uncomfortable?' Fred asked.

'Did we strike a chord with our astute observations?' George added.

'There's just no point in you hanging around the kitchen if you're not going to help,' Hermione said waspishly. 'So either grab a knife or bugger off and annoy someone else.'

Fred and George glanced at each other for a moment, then with a grin, they both pulled out chairs and sat down at the table.

'You've convinced us, Hermione,' Fred said, his eyes twinkling mischievously as she stared at them in dismay. 'I can't think of anywhere I'd more like to be at the moment, can you, George?'

'Absolutely not,' his twin agreed with a wicked smile as he picked up a knife and began to peel a potato.


	4. Chapter 3

Hermione was feeling extremely fed up and needed some time on her own. Percy and Penny's continued joint presence along with the twins' non-stop snide and cryptic comments about her desire for Percy were really beginning to grate on her nerves. She finally finished peeling the Brussels sprouts and stood to leave, knowing she had done more than her fair share of the work as she had already prepared the chestnuts, the parsnips, the carrots and the cranberries.

She wandered through to the lounge, looking at the Christmas tree with its interesting decorations before sitting on the sofa, enjoying the silence. She had been there for about ten minutes when Percy joined her. He, too, looked at the Christmas tree for a few minutes before moving to sit in a chair a respectable distance away from her. For another few minutes the two of them sat there not speaking.

'What's the matter, Hermione?' Percy asked worriedly. He was now staring at her avidly.

Hermione shook her head and, trying to keep her voice neutral said, 'There's nothing wrong.'

'Yes, there is, I can tell,' Percy said. 'Please, talk to me. I want to know.'

Hermione considered for a moment before sighing loudly. 'Fred and George saw us in the barn this morning.'

Percy stared at her in horror. 'What? How the hell do you know that?'

'Because they tried to blackmail me over it when I went out for a walk earlier today. They tried to get me to have sex with them both in return for keeping quiet about what they saw us doing. They were talking about bringing it up over lunch. That's what all those snide comments were about in the kitchen. That's why I had to get out.'

Percy's face went red, anger clearly showing on his face. 'They did what?'

'Don't worry about it. I turned them down flat and pointed out that as I'm not going out with Ron any longer I didn't care what they said. I don't think they were keen to go up against you, though, so they backed down.'

Still angry, Percy said, 'I shall have a word with them about that.'

Hermione shook her head. 'There's no point. You know what the twins are like; it'll just make things worse. The best thing to do is just ignore them and hope they get bored with us.'

Percy got up from his chair and moved closer. Hermione looked around with a faint sense of panic for a moment but it seemed Percy didn't care. He sat down next to her and took hold of her hand.

'I don't care what the twins saw,' he said seriously. 'It's rather annoying as I haven't had a chance to talk to Penny yet, but I suppose it would sort the problem out if they told her.'

Hermione studied him with distaste. 'That's a really nasty thing to say, Percy,' she chided. 'Whatever you may think of her, Penny's still your girlfriend at the moment and she deserves better than to hear from your brothers what you and I were doing in the barn. Don't be such a coward. Talk to her . . . and tell her the truth.'

'I'm going to,' Percy said. He sounded a touch sullen, clearly not happy that Hermione had berated him. 'But not now. It'll cause too much drama. I told you, I'll tell her after the holiday.'

'Then I suggest you don't do anything to annoy Fred and George in the meantime, otherwise they will tell her for you, and everyone else, too, probably,' Hermione warned.

'I already try not to talk to them if I can help it,' Percy retorted.

Hermione sighed. 'I know that, but you know how they like to wind you up and this gives them the perfect excuse; so whatever you do, don't lose your temper with them.'

Percy looked morose. 'I can't stop them, can I?'

He fell silent then, and for a couple of minutes the two of them sat in silence.

Eventually he said, 'Will you meet me again tonight . . . after everyone's gone to bed?'

'Everyone but Fred and George, you mean. I'm sure they'll still be busy spying,' Hermione pointed out tersely.

Percy sighed. 'Oh, sod them. They know about us now so why should it stop us being together?'

'I think that's a really bad idea, Percy,' Hermione said. 'We can't keep meeting up when you're still going out with Penny. I told you it's not fair to her . . . or to me, for that matter.'

Percy looked disgruntled. 'Please, Hermione. I really want us to spend some time together.' He gazed at her hopefully. 'Anyway, I've got a special present for you and I can't give it to you in front of everyone else.'

Hermione stared at him archly. 'I've already had your special present, Percy. That's how we got caught by Fred and George. I think we should leave any more "presents" until you're single.'

'Please, Hermione, this is really important,' Percy said adamantly.

He leant closer as the door flew open.

'Oh ho, what's going on here, then?' Fred asked cheerily.

George followed him through the door, closing it behind him. Percy and Hermione tried to move apart but found they couldn't move. Hermione looked up as she saw the twins' grinning faces and felt her heart sink when she saw the mistletoe holding her and Percy in place.

'You did this,' she growled accusingly at the twins.

Fred gave her a low bow. 'Just trying to be helpful, Hermione.'

'And how on earth does this help?' Hermione asked crossly.

'It's what you want, isn't it?' George asked. He looked at Percy. 'So are you going to give Hermione a real kiss then, Perce? The tension in here is almost unbearable with all that pent-up emotion.'

'And you can get away with doing it in here with that mistletoe,' Fred added.

Percy scowled at the twins. 'I don't know what you think you're playing at but it's not funny and it's certainly not clever. Release us immediately.'

'All you have to do is give the lady a kiss,' Fred said. 'What's not to like about that? Go on, Percy, you know you want to.'

'I'm sorry about my brothers, Hermione,' Percy said. He smiled at her. 'Looks like there's only one way out.'

Hermione gazed back at him, her heart beating faster at the thought of kissing him here in the house in full view of other people. It was a scary prospect even if Fred and George had seen them earlier and despite the mistletoe, which meant they had no choice but to kiss if they wanted to get free. It still felt illicit, knowing Penny was somewhere around.

'Shall I free you, Hermione?' Percy asked seriously, his arms snaking around Hermione's body as he spoke.

Hermione continued to stare at him. Part of her wanted the kiss to happen purely so this somewhat awkward and scary moment would be over, although a bigger part, one she was trying desperately to keep under control, had the urge to turn the kiss into a major snogging session. Silently she cursed the twins for putting them in this position.

'Well, are you going to kiss the girl or not, Percy?' George asked.

'Do it,' Fred urged. 'But make it count. Give her a proper snog, not just a wimpy old peck on the cheek.'

Percy stared at Hermione as he debated what to do. He wanted to kiss her so much it hurt, but he didn't really want the twins causing any more trouble and he didn't want to upset Hermione any more than he already had. He wished she would say something to him so he would know what to do.

The door opened again and Penny walked into the lounge and looked at the scene in front of her with horror. Percy immediately released Hermione, cursing under his breath at having stalled. If only he had just kissed her immediately—

'What the hell's going on?' Penny asked angrily. She glared at Hermione. 'Where's Ron?'

Fred put an arm around her and said conspiratorially, 'It's all right, Penny, we're just giving Percy the opportunity to have a bit of fun for once in his life.' He winked.

'They make a nice-looking couple, don't you think?' George added.

'Will you two stop it?' Hermione said, sounding indignant. 'For Merlin's sake, just leave Penny alone, and while you're at it, you can release Percy and me from this mistletoe you've trapped us under.'

'No can do,' Fred said, shaking his head.

'You know what you've got to do, Hermione,' George said with a grin. He puckered up and started making loud kissing noises. 'Go on, give Percy a good snog. You know you want to.'

'Why is my boyfriend trapped under mistletoe with Hermione?' Penny asked coldly. 'Can someone explain that to me?'

'That's a really good question,' George said. He grinned again. 'Perhaps he wants to kiss her.'

'Don't be so childish,' Penny snapped. 'I suppose you two thought it would be funny, did you?'

She walked over to the sofa. 'Don't worry, Percy darling, I'll free you,' she told him then bent to give him a brief kiss on the lips.

Hermione closed her eyes, not wanting to watch the couple kissing, especially at such close quarters. Fred and George looked disappointed, as did Percy. As soon as he was free he rose from the sofa. Penny took hold of his arm possessively.

'Come on, let's go and find the others and get away from these idiots and their jokes,' she said sharply, pulling him towards the door as she glared at everyone else.

Percy glanced at Hermione for a moment but she refused to meet his eyes. Reluctantly he allowed Penny to lead him out of the door.

'Well, that was a bit disappointing,' Fred said, sounding annoyed as he watched the couple leave.

'You should be ashamed of yourselves,' Hermione told them.

Fred turned to look at her. 'You might want to remember that you're still stuck under the mistletoe, Hermione.'

'It would probably pay you to be a bit nicer to us,' George added.

'Either release me or go away,' Hermione said icily.

'Well, if that's how you feel. . . .' George said, and he began to walk towards the door. Fred shot Hermione a smirk, then went to follow him.

'Fine,' Hermione huffed. 'I'm perfectly happy sitting here. I don't need help from you two, thank you. I've no doubt someone else will free me soon enough.'

'All right, you've got us,' George said, and the twins returned, going either side of Hermione and each giving her a kiss on the cheek at the same time.

'We need to talk . . . and not in here,' Hermione hissed as she stood up, finally free of the mistletoe.

'Back in the barn?' Fred suggested casually.

Hermione looked distastefully at the twins for a moment before nodding. 'Okay. I'll meet you there in ten minutes.'

She walked out of the lounge, leaving the two grinning men behind her, high-fiving each other. 

* * *

'I want you two to knock it off with all the wisecracks about me and Percy,' Hermione told the twins coldly once she joined them in the barn, having made sure they were alone.

'But you're both so much fun to wind up,' Fred admitted.

Hermione glared at him. 'Why do the pair of you always have to be such arseholes? It's Christmas day, for Merlin's sake, so just do us all a favour and give it a rest.'

'I would have though us being "arseholes", as you call us, is helping you and Percy,' George said. 'You don't want him being with Penny, do you? Not after what we saw this morning.'

Hermione groaned. 'You weren't supposed to see anything this morning and I'd rather you forgot all about it. I'm certainly trying to.'

'It's a little difficult to forget,' George pointed out. 'You and Perce were very passionate.'

'Yeah, _you_ were magnificent,' Fred added.

Hermione sighed unhappily. 'It doesn't really matter what we were. Percy's still in a relationship with Penny and that doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon — at least not while we're here — so I'd rather just forget the whole thing and put this morning down to a moment of madness on my part.'

'You really are in love with him,' George said, sounding surprised. 'I don't know what he's done to get so lucky but Percy really is a prize prat if he's going to remain stuck with that boring bitch and miss out on the chance to be with you.'

'Don't be so rude,' Hermione snapped. 'Penny isn't boring, she's just a bit staid, and I'm sure you both thought the same about Percy until this morning.'

The twins both looked a little sheepish at this comment.

'Look, whatever Percy is or isn't going to do isn't going to happen until after the Christmas break is over, so until then we all have to live happily together, and that includes Penny, too,' Hermione pointed out. 'As much as you think you're helping, you're really not. All you're going to do in the long run is make things difficult for me and Percy, you're going to really upset Penny, and you'll probably ruin everyone's Christmas into the bargain. So please, I'm begging you, leave the wisecracks alone . . . and no more mistletoe!'

'What, like that?' Fred asked, pointing above Hermione's head where a large clump had just appeared.

Hermione gave a weary sigh and rolled her eyes. 'You have got to be kidding me. Come on, guys, let me go. It's not funny.'

'It's not meant to be funny,' George told her.

'No, not funny at all,' Fred agreed with his twin. 'But George and I can help to ease your broken heart, Hermione.'

'I haven't got a broken heart,' Hermione insisted, her temper rising as she struggled to get free of the mistletoe.

'No? Well, maybe it's not completely broken but we saw how upset you were when Penny pitched up in the lounge and stopped you and Percy from kissing,' Fred said. 'Percy was unhappy, too,' he added.

'The thing is, Hermione, you look sort of devastated every time you see Penny, especially when she's with Percy, so we know you're unhappy. We don't want you to be unhappy, we like you. But Penny's the one walking around with a grin like a hyena. Why should she be so happy? It's not fair,' George said.

Hermione sighed again. 'Look, I really appreciate that you prefer me to Penny, honestly I do, but you're not helping to make anything better — and making Penny unhappy isn't going to help. It's up to Percy, not you two, to explain things and end it with her, and he won't do that until after Christmas because despite what you think he's sensitive to other people's feelings and he doesn't want to upset her during what should be a happy time.'

'But what about you? Fred asked with a frown. 'You're not happy, Hermione. You have to watch Percy with Penny and it must be tearing you apart. Mind you, I don't know how he can do it when he's in love with you.'

Hermione blinked back tears that were forming in her eyes at Fred's words. He was right, she was finding it hard, harder than they realised. She stared at the twins. She would never normally consider them as confidantes as it would give them too much ammunition they could use against her and others, but she really needed to talk about it to someone other than Percy and there was no one else she could turn to.

'I'm not even sure he's going to finish with her,' Hermione admitted sadly, the worry she had been keeping locked up inside finally spilling free.

'What do you mean?' Fred asked, looking confused.

'Release me from the mistletoe and I'll tell you,' Hermione bargained.

The twins looked shiftily at each other but made no move to release her.

'We thought the mistletoe might help to make you feel more inclined to—' George began.

'I'm sorry, but I don't fancy either of you.' Hermione cut him off bluntly. 'I think of you more as annoying big brothers. I like you but not in _that_ way and I never will, so there's no point in you keeping me trapped because I'm not going to fall for your dubious charms, whatever you do.'

Realising the truth of Hermione's statement, Fred moved forward, kissing her on the cheek to release her from the mistletoe. She gave him a small smile of gratitude.

'What did you mean when you said Percy wasn't going to get rid of Penny?' George reminded her.

Hermione wrapped her arms around herself, both to keep out the chill of the barn and as a defensive gesture. Then with a sigh she told them, 'I've fancied Percy for a long time – yes, Fred, I know you can't understand why but he's my type of person: sensible, studious and hard-working; what you would probably call boring although I discovered he's actually anything but — but I thought he was in love with Penny so would never have done anything about it.

'Then about a month ago we were at some boring work conference together and the two of us began chatting, as you do; trying to make the event more bearable by taking the piss out of the other people attending and stuff. Once it had finished, Percy asked me to go for a drink with him so I agreed. I didn't think much of it, to be honest; after all, you Weasleys are all almost like family, and Percy and Penny had been together for so long it didn't occur to me that he might be interested in me as anything other than a friend, otherwise I might have said no.

'I went for the drink with him and we had a really good evening, and I mean _really_ good. It made me realise that not only did I fancy Percy more than ever but that I couldn't continue my relationship with Ron. I love him but just not enough, or in the way I need to for us to be a couple.'

'I always thought it was a bit weird you and Ron getting together, you're so completely different,' Fred said.

Hermione nodded. 'We are. I tried to make it work because I'd fancied him for so long, but I think I knew before I even realised I still fancied Percy that we weren't likely to stay as a couple for long. I think Ron knew it, too. He wasn't particularly disappointed when I called it a day.

'I got a bit drunk that night and it made me reckless. When Percy invited me back to his flat I said yes when I should have said no and gone home. Instead, I went with Percy and ended up in bed with him. Even then I knew what we were doing was wrong, but I honestly didn't care. I just wanted to spend the night with Percy, wanted to wake up in his arms as if we were a real couple.

'Of course, it was always going to be awkward once we both sobered up, but by then Percy had told me that he was in love with me, too; that he had fancied me for years but had never been brave enough to do anything about it.

'That drunken evening gave us both the opportunity to admit our feelings for each other, and although I still felt guilty about what we were doing — more because of Penny than Ron, I'll be honest — it didn't stop us and by the time we parted the following morning I was convinced that we were on the verge of a relationship that was going to be so much more than I had ever had with Ron.

'I was so happy when I went to work, convinced that Percy would contact me soon, that we would be together again, so I went to see Ron straight away and explained that I wanted to end our relationship. As I said, he was cool about it so I was still feeling good, waiting for Percy to contact me . . . but he never did.'

'What?' Fred said, looking surprised.

Hermione shook her head. 'I waited and then I waited some more because Percy had told me he would contact me as soon as he had ended his relationship with Penny, and I realised that might take a little while to achieve, however much I may have wanted to be with him again, but it never happened.

'I didn't contact him because I was too scared to find out that he'd lied to me, and at least not knowing for sure gave me a little hope that there was still something between us. Then Ron told me that your mum had been asking whether I wanted to come to the Burrow for Christmas. I thought about saying no but Ron told me he'd already said yes on my behalf, so here I am and, unfortunately, so are Percy and Penny as well.'

'But what was all that with you and Percy in here this morning, then?' George asked.

'I thought — no, I hoped that when Percy arrived I would be able to talk to him to find out why he hadn't contacted me. But then he brought Penny with him and I knew the truth — that he never had any intention of leaving her for me. I had just been a drunken one-night stand for him whilst Penny wasn't around. I'll admit I was heartbroken and seriously thought about leaving the Burrow immediately, but then I decided I wasn't going to let him force me away from my friends, so I stayed.

'Just before I went to bed last night, Percy asked me to meet him. He said he wanted to explain why he hadn't contacted me and why Penny was with him. I wasn't inclined to listen to any excuses to begin with, but the truth is that I'm still in love with him despite what he did, so eventually I agreed to meet him and we came here to talk so that no one would catch us.'

'Apart from us,' Fred said with a grin. Hermione glared at him and his smile waned.

'Percy told me that he had been too busy at work to talk to Penny and that he hadn't wanted to contact me until she was out of the way because he knew I wouldn't want to see him until then. But as time went on and because I hadn't contacted him either, he began to think I wasn't interested in him and no longer wanted a relationship so still he said nothing to Penny.

'According to Percy, by the time he did confront her about it, your mother had already invited her to stay for Christmas and she had said yes. Not knowing what to do for the best, and apparently still thinking I wasn't interested, Percy kept quiet and brought her with him to the Burrow as his girlfriend.

'I don't know how much you saw earlier, but I was really upset and not ready to accept his apology; but once again, being in love with him and being in such close proximity to him tore down all my defences. When Percy assured me he was in love with me and would definitely get rid of Penny after Christmas I chose to believe him . . . I wanted to believe so desperately that he hadn't just used me, and then we were making love again, even though I knew I shouldn't even be talking to him while he's still with Penny. The problem is that now I don't know what to believe; I can't help but worry that Percy was just using me again this morning as well.'

'I don't believe that,' George said staunchly.

'Neither do I,' Fred agreed. 'He was far too upset when Penny came and ruined your kiss under the mistletoe. He really wanted to kiss you, Hermione.'

'And this morning — there was no way he'd have been that loving with you if he was just using you,' George said. 'There was definitely more than just sex between you.'

Hermione stared at them miserably. 'Thank you both for trying to cheer me up, but I don't think any of us can really be sure what Percy's up to. I mean, he could have contacted me even if it was just to tell me he was too busy to talk to Penny and that it would have to wait. Sure, it would have annoyed me, but I would have understood — and at least I'd have known what was happening. Now I have no idea.'

'Well, what do you expect? It's because Percy's such a prat that he's cocked up on this. Typical of him to consider his work as more serious than his relationships,' Fred snorted.

'I tell you what, Hermione. We'll ask him for you,' George suggested brightly.

'No, you mustn't do that,' Hermione answered, her voice suddenly anxious. 'If he is intending to end it with Penny then he'll be annoyed that I didn't believe him and that I've got you involved. And if he isn't, then he'll be annoyed at us trying to catch him out. All we can do is wait and see what happens after Christmas.'

'I still don't think you've got anything to worry about,' Fred said soothingly.

'I wish I was so sure.' Hermione sighed.

'Percy's really changed since he left home,' Fred said.

 _More than you'll ever know,_ Hermione thought.

'Yeah, he used to just be a pompous prig,' George continued, 'and he and Penny were both as boring as each other. They used to drive us mad, didn't they, Fred?'

Fred nodded. 'They did. But he's changed loads since he got his own place. He's got much better — he can even be funny occasionally, and I don't think Penny suits him as a girlfriend any longer.'

Hermione thought back to Ginny's comment earlier in the day that had basically said the same thing.

'I have to admit that just before Christmas I thought he was seeing someone else; of course, that would have been you,' Fred said, looking pensive. 'But he seemed happier somehow, and I was sure Penny wasn't a part of that.'

'So what you're telling me is not to worry?' Hermione asked.

Fred grinned. 'Well, you can worry if you want but it's not going to help, is it?'

'Don't worry about Percy, he's not a complete idiot so he'll come through eventually,' George told her soothingly.

'I'm going to go back to the house now, I'm getting cold,' Hermione told them.

'We're stopping here for a bit so we'll see you later, Hermione,' George said.

The twins watched her walk away.

'Do you think Percy was just using Hermione?' George asked.

Fred shook his head. 'He can be a twit sometimes but he's not that much of an idiot. He'd be crazy to turn down Hermione in favour of boring Penny.'

'But she's in love with him so he doesn't need to do anything, does he?' George pointed out. 'She still has sex with him even though she's not even sure he really wants her. I feel sorry for Hermione, actually. It's not a very nice position to be in.'

'Well, there's one way we can find out,' Fred said with a grin. 'We can ask him.'

'But Hermione said not to,' George warned.

'We're not asking on her behalf,' Fred said smirking. 'Anyway, I'm sure we can be more subtle than asking him outright.'

'You've got a plan,' George said.

Fred nodded. 'Yep, but if I'm right I think we're probably going to need to get Hermione back here at some point.'


	5. Chapter 4

'I don't want to talk to you,' Percy said coldly as he saw the twins coming towards him.

'That's not very nice, Perce,' George said, sounding hurt.

'Very hurtful, in fact,' Fred added.

Percy sighed. 'All right, what do you two want? I haven't forgiven you for the mistletoe prank, you know.'

'We thought you wanted to kiss Hermione,' Fred said. 'Sorry if we were wrong.'

Percy stared at them for a moment then sighed again. 'You weren't wrong but it caused a lot of problems with Penny.'

'Why are you still with her?' Fred asked bluntly.

'When you could be with Hermione?' George finished.

Percy's features hardened. 'I am not going to discuss this with you two. Hermione told me you spied on us but I suggest, if you know what's good for you, that you keep that knowledge to yourself.'

'Hermione's worried that you aren't going to dump Penny,' Fred said. 'She thinks you're stringing her along just so you can have sex with her.'

Percy looked horrified. 'Did she tell you that? Has she been talking to you about it?'

Fred shook his head. 'No, but it was pretty obvious from the way she was talking. She's really unhappy, Percy, and all because you brought Penny to the Burrow.'

'I didn't have any choice. Mum had already invited her and she agreed before I had a chance to talk to her about ending our relationship,' Percy revealed unhappily.

'So you do want to get rid of her, then?' George asked.

Percy stared at the twins wildly. 'Of course I do. I'm in love with Hermione and have been for ages . . . years, probably. I was a complete idiot before Christmas and now I'm stuck, especially as Hermione is refusing to talk to me until I get rid of Penny. It's really bloody annoying. I want Hermione so much.'

'What if we got you another chance to give Hermione a kiss under the mistletoe, would you take it?' Fred asked.

Percy shrugged. 'It depends on where it is . . . and where Penny is at the time. She'll go mad if she finds me anywhere near mistletoe with Hermione after last time, and Christmas is turning out to be miserable enough as it is without her being in a bad mood.'

'Why don't you just tell her?' Fred asked.

'Because I don't want to ruin her Christmas,' Percy admitted.

'What, so you'd rather ruin Hermione's instead?' George asked tersely.

'No! Of course not. Hermione understands what I'm doing,' Percy said, sounding defensive now.

'Well, I know what I'd do if it were me,' George told him.

'No, you wouldn't. You'd probably swap places with Fred so you didn't have to face her,' Percy suggested angrily.

Fred raised his hands in supplication. 'Look, let's not argue about this. You think you need to wait until after Christmas to get rid of Penny so we'll accept that—' he stared at his twin— 'regardless of what we might or might not do differently in your place. But that means that you and Hermione won't get a chance to be together until Merlin only knows when — not good for either of you, especially if you really are serious about her.'

'She won't even talk to me,' Percy said gloomily. 'I asked her to meet me again tonight and she refused. I had something special I wanted to give her as well.'

'Another special present, eh?' George said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. 'I'm amazed she turned you down, Perce.'

'It's not like that,' Percy protested, 'although I don't know why I'm talking to you two jokers about it, anyway.'

'Because we're the ones who are going to get you a little time alone with Hermione,' Fred told him. 'What could be better than a Christmas kiss under the mistletoe with the woman you love? We can arrange it and we can keep Penny from seeing the two of you until it's already happened. Just say the word, big brother, and we'll spring into action.'

Percy stared at the twins suspiciously. 'Why are you offering to do this? What are you expecting in return?'

Fred grinned. 'Nothing, Percy. We're helping you out of the goodness of our hearts.'

'Call it Christmas charity,' George said. 'We want Hermione to be happy. She isn't at the moment, and it's not fair that Penny's happy and she isn't. A kiss won't be much but it might cheer her up a little bit.'

Percy thought about it for a moment. He was feeling extremely guilty about letting Hermione down and the twins were right, it didn't seem fair that Penny should be happy when the woman he loved so much was having a rotten Christmas because of him.

'Okay, but only if Hermione agrees,' he told the twins.

'Oh, don't you worry about that,' Fred said with a smirk. He looked at his watch. 'Hermione's going to agree and if we're quick we can get it done before lunch.' 

* * *

'We need to talk to you,' George told Hermione.

She and Ginny were sitting in the lounge reading.

'What are you two up to?' Ginny asked, sounding curious, as she looked at the twins. 'You've been plotting all morning.'

'Nothing that concerns you, nosey,' Fred said. 'Hermione, we need to borrow you for a few minutes. It's important.'

Hermione stared at them. 'I'm reading . . . and I don't really feel like moving at the moment.'

George stared back pleadingly. 'Please, Hermione. It's important.'

'What's important?' Ginny asked.

'I've already told you it's none of your business,' Fred said crossly. 'Hermione, please?'

Hermione sighed loudly, placed her bookmark back in her book and closed it, then placed it on the coffee table in front of her. She stood up and stretched.

'All right, I'm coming.' She sounded annoyed.

'Do you want me to come with you, Hermione?' Ginny asked.

Hermione looked at the twins for a moment before turning back to Ginny.

'No, it's okay, Ginny. Whatever it is the twins want to tell me won't take long.'

Ginny looked disappointed but shrugged. 'Okay, I'll see you shortly.'

Hermione followed Fred and George out of the door.

'Where are we going?' she asked as they headed towards the kitchen.

'Back to the barn,' Fred said.

'Not again,' Hermione groaned. 'I'm not dressed for it and I'm not going all the way upstairs to get my coat again. What do you want to talk to me about, anyway?'

'What do you think?' George said.

Hermione grimaced. 'I haven't got anything else to say on that subject. I'm depressed enough already. That's why I left the barn, so I wouldn't have to discuss it any further.'

'I know,' Fred said soothingly, 'We've got some good news but I don't think we want to talk about it here, do we?' He glanced through the open kitchen door where Penny and Fleur were sitting talking to his mother.

Hermione sighed but didn't say anything when George handed her a coat. She stared at it for a moment, then put it on and followed the twins through the kitchen and out of the back door.

As they walked across the grass she asked, 'Whose coat is this?'

Fred studied it for a moment. 'I think it's an old one of Bill's. Mum leaves them there in case anyone needs to use a coat at short notice. It looks okay, if that's what you're worried about.'

Hermione fastened the coat to keep out the stiff breeze that was blowing across the garden. 'It wasn't,' she replied coolly. 'I was just wondering about it, that's all.'

There was silence from all three of them then until they reached the barn. It was clear the twins had no intention of telling Hermione what their so-called good news was until they were inside. Personally, Hermione couldn't imagine anything they could tell her that would cheer her up. She had no idea where Percy was, but as Penny had already been talking to Mrs Weasley when Hermione had gone back to the house earlier there was no way he would have had a chance to talk to her, even if he had wanted to, which he didn't.

'Okay, so tell me what this good news is so I can get back in the warm. It's almost time for lunch and I promised your mother I would help to lay the table.'

'Ginny can do that,' George said.

'You need to be here,' Fred told her.

'Why?' Hermione looked at the twins with suspicion.

'You'll see in a minute,' Fred said. He sounded smug.

He gestured to George, who slipped out of the door. Hermione watched him go.

'What are you two up to?' she asked. Then she groaned as she realised what was happening. 'Please tell me George hasn't gone to get Percy.'

'He's in love with you, Hermione,' Fred said.

'I told you not to ask him about it,' Hermione retorted, sounding unhappy.

'We didn't,' Fred explained quickly. 'We were talking about something else and it just came out. Percy admitted he was in love with you and is going to get rid of Penny. That's good news, surely?'

'Okay, I admit that sounds hopeful, but I still don't want to see him. He's not getting rid of her today, is he?'

'No, but he wants to make you happy, Hermione, just like we do, and you never did get the chance for that kiss.'

Hermione realised what Fred was talking about just a fraction of a second too late. She looked up and saw the mistletoe, trapping her for the third time that morning.

'I'm going to bloody kill you once I get free,' she warned Fred. He just grinned. 'I mean it.'

The door to the barn opened and George came in followed by Percy.

'There you go – happy Christmas, Percy,' George said quietly as he indicated Hermione, who was still scowling at Fred.

'She doesn't look very happy to be here,' Percy whispered to his brother.

'She's fine,' George assured him.

Percy walked towards Hermione.

'Hi, Hermione,' he said hesitantly, then smiled at her hopefully.

Hermione stared at him balefully for a moment then smiled back. 'Hi, Percy.'

'Well, we'll just leave you two lovebirds alone,' Fred said. He took George's arm and led him towards the door.

'We'll keep a watch out to make sure no one disturbs you,' George said turning back to the couple. He winked. 'Have fun.'

The door closed and Percy and Hermione were alone.

'I'm sorry about Fred and George trapping you under the mistletoe again,' Percy said.

Hermione regarded him for a moment then smiled again. 'It's okay. Just as long as you're going to free me.'

Percy grinned. 'Of course I will, Hermione. There's nothing I want more.' He stopped for a second, seemed to think about it then said, 'Well, actually there is—'

Hermione shook her head as she cut him off. 'I'm only interested in a kiss. You and I aren't doing anything else until you're single.'

Percy moved until he was standing right next Hermione. He wrapped his arms around her waist as he pressed his body against her.

'Only one kiss?' he asked quietly.

Hermione stared at him, her heart beating so fast that she thought she might pass out. She was finally going to get the kiss she had wanted all morning. Surely this time nothing could go wrong?

'To start with,' she whispered, her face raising to meet Percy's, their lips touching tentatively at first, then with more passion as they held each other tightly.

'I love you, Hermione,' Percy told her sincerely a second before his mouth captured hers for another longer-lasting kiss that took Hermione's breath away.

His hands were moving, caressing Hermione's body, but as he tried to get more intimate she pulled away from him.

'No, Percy. I told you, I'm not doing anything but kiss you while you're still going out with Penny.'

Percy growled with frustration but then enfolded Hermione in his arms once more.

'All right, if that's what you want,' he agreed magnanimously. 'Kissing you is better than not being able to touch you at all.'

Then they were kissing again, pouring every ounce of their love for each other into this one act. 

* * *

Ginny ran across the grass. She had no idea what was going on between Fred, George and Hermione but she was hoping she would find them soon so they could help her look for Percy. Penny was looking for him and she didn't seem to be very happy. Ron and Harry had disappeared so she couldn't ask them, and Bill and Charlie had been talking with her father ever since they got back from Quidditch so she knew they wouldn't know where Percy had got to.

As she neared the barn she saw the twins standing outside. She had no idea where Hermione had gone.

'What's the matter?' Fred asked her as Ginny joined them.

'The Pig's looking for Percy,' she said.

Fred frowned, looking confused. 'The what is looking for Percy?'

'The Pig,' Ginny explained. 'That's my nickname for Penny. She snores like a pig so it seemed appropriate.'

The twins both grinned at her.

'That's a great name for her,' George agreed. 'But why's she looking for Percy?'

'Merlin only knows,' Ginny said sounding exasperated. 'She's probably got withdrawal symptoms as she hasn't seen him for ten minutes or something, you know how clingy she is. Anyway, I thought I'd warn him. Have you seen him anywhere?'

Fred shook his head. 'Nope. Haven't seen him since we left the kitchen after helping with the vegetables. But if we do see him we'll let him know the Pig's looking for him.'

'He doesn't know I call her that,' Ginny warned them. She stared suspiciously at the twins. 'What are you two doing hanging around out here in the cold, anyway?'

'Keeping out of the way of any more chores,' Fred said nonchalantly. 'We already helped with peeling the potatoes and without magic, too. That was more than enough work for one day.'

'Where did Hermione go?' Ginny asked. She looked around as if expecting to see her.

'I think she went back indoors. It was too cold for her out here,' George said.

Ginny stared at them both suspiciously again but there didn't seem to be anything out of place so she let it go.

'I'll go and find her in case she knows where Percy is,' she said.

'We'll be in shortly,' Fred told her.

The twins stood and watched their sister make her way back to the house. Once she entered the kitchen, Fred banged on the barn door to warn Hermione and Percy they were coming in. The couple broke apart as the twins entered, and stared at them.

Penny's looking for you,' Fred told Percy.

Percy's face fell. 'I suppose I should go and find her before she comes out here. She won't be happy to see Hermione with me.'

He grabbed Hermione's hand and squeezed it. 'Thank you for the kisses.'

Hermione smiled at him. 'They were good,' she admitted.

'We should all be getting back, it's almost lunchtime,' George said.

The foursome left the barn and wandered back across the grass to the kitchen door.

'Not a word to anyone,' Percy warned the twins before opening the door.

Fred and George nodded their agreement, both making a zipping motion across their lips, as they all piled back into the warm kitchen.

'Percy! Where have you been?' Penny asked immediately, her voice petulant. 'I've been looking everywhere for you.' She stared at the twins and Hermione and a scowl crossed her face. 'Why were you with them?' she asked.

'I've just bumped into them on the way across the yard,' Percy said mildly. 'I went for a walk to get a bit of fresh air before lunch.'

'A walk. Why didn't you ask me to go with you? I would have liked to go for a walk, especially just the two of us.'

'I wanted some time alone,' Percy admitted.

Penny frowned again. 'Why? We always do everything together, Percy, you know we do.' She clung to his arm, trying to hide her anger but not managing particularly well.

'Please don't start, Penny,' Percy said wearily. 'It was just a walk.'

'Lunch will be in ten minutes,' Mrs Weasley announced from her place at the stove, effectively ending the argument that was brewing. 'Hermione, dear, would you and Penny go and help Ginny lay the table?'

Hermione nodded and left the kitchen, not bothering to wait for Penny.


	6. Chapter 5

'I've been meaning to have a word with you, Hermione,' Penny said.

She took hold of Hermione's arm and led her towards the sofa. Hermione had no interest in anything her love rival might have to say to her, especially after the large lunch she had just consumed. All she really wanted to do was go to sleep for a couple of hours but she was too polite to pull away. Instead, she sat down unhappily, wondering what Penny wanted to talk to her about. She just hoped it wasn't about earlier when she had caught them returning to the house, or the even earlier mistletoe incident.

'I notice you haven't spent much time with Ron since we've been here,' Penny said once she sat down beside Hermione, her face a studied mixture of sympathy and curiosity. 'Is everything okay between you two?'

Hermione stared at her for a moment before responding, 'Ron and I split up just under a month ago.'

Penny's face crumpled with sympathy.

'Oh, how terrible for you. That's why you look so unhappy,' she whispered, patting Hermione's hand in what she obviously thought was a comforting manner. 'And how difficult it must be, having to spend Christmas here, after—'

'It's not been that difficult,' Hermione interrupted, having trouble keeping the tartness out of her tone. 'Not with Ron, anyway.'

Penny looked confused.

Hermione elaborated, 'Ron and I parted as friends, Penny. He's more like a brother to me than a boyfriend so it made sense to call it a day. Neither of us was particularly cut up about it; it seems that everyone else is more upset about it than we are.'

'That's such a shame because I always thought you made such a lovely couple,' Penny said.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the comment. Penny must have been the only person in the world who did.

'Well, I am sorry that it didn't work out between you. It seems a shame for you to be so unhappy at this time of year, especially when I'm feeling so excited,' Penny continued, her interest in Hermione's plight dealt with. Now she wanted to share her own good news. 'It's a shame you and Ron weren't more like me and Percy — we have a truly wonderful relationship.'

Hermione felt her hands automatically clench into fists. She didn't want to hear any more bollocks about what a wonderful relationship Penny and Percy apparently had, otherwise she would be tempted to tell the awful woman the truth, and that wouldn't be good for anyone. As she tried to think of a way to escape before she killed Penny, the door opened and Ginny entered with a plate of mince pies.

She grinned at Hermione then moved towards the sofa with the plate outstretched.

'Mince pie?' she enquired.

Penny took one but Hermione shook her head. She was feeling too full and far too stressed to eat anything more.

'Shove up,' Ginny said, and she pushed her way between the two women, subconsciously understanding that she needed to split Hermione and Penny up, although not entirely sure why.

'I was just telling Hermione how sorry I am that she's split up with Ron. I was worried because she seems so unhappy,' Penny told Ginny.

Ginny shrugged. 'Ron's an arse so I'm not surprised Hermione split up with him. She can do so much better than him.'

'Although I seem to recall you're quite keen on me having a relationship with one of your brothers,' Hermione pointed out.

'Yeah, but not Ron. He's completely hopeless where women are concerned. In fact, he's almost as bad as Charlie.'

'What's wrong with Charlie?' Hermione asked curiously.

Ginny grinned. 'Nothing really, but he's rubbish at relationships. That's why he works with dragons. He says they're easier to deal with than women.' She glanced at Penny, her grin widening more wickedly, 'Anyway, you know which brother I think you'd be suited to.'

Hermione glared at her friend. This was already awkward enough without Ginny revealing her thoughts on Percy and his love life.

'As long as she's not interested in my Percy,' Penny said with a slightly shrill laugh, apparently not noticing the slightly awkward air her comment caused.

Before anyone could say anything further she announced, 'He's so wonderful . . . and he's going to ask me to marry him today.'

She beamed as Hermione and Ginny both stared at her in shock.

'What makes you think that?' Hermione asked, her voice sounding as hollow as she suddenly felt.

Ginny was more forthright. 'Where on earth did you get that idea? Percy's got no interest in getting married.'

'. . . especially to a pig,' she added quietly enough that only Hermione could hear.

'You sound like you're not very happy about the idea, Ginevra,' Penny said, sounding upset. She stood up and stared unhappily at the two women on the sofa. 'I was going to ask you and Hermione to be bridesmaids.'

'I just want my brothers to be happy. To be honest, Penny, I didn't realise Percy was that serious about you,' Ginny replied.

Beside her, Hermione was desperately trying to get her emotions under control.

'Not serious about me! We've been together for almost eight years,' Penny pointed out.

'Which says to me that he's not interested in getting married otherwise he would have asked you earlier,' Ginny retorted belligerently.

Hermione could see the look of anger in Penny's eyes and knew that unless she did something there was going to be a fight between her and Ginny — which wouldn't be good if Percy really was going to marry Penny. The idea made her feel sick, but then it wasn't really any more shocking than learning that Percy hadn't ended his relationship with his girlfriend as he had promised, despite all his protestations of love for her.

She needed to know why Penny was so convinced that Percy was going to propose to her.

'How do you know he's going to ask you?' Hermione cut in.

Penny stopped glaring at Ginny for a moment to look at Hermione, a saccharine-sweet smile coming back to her face at the chance to gloat.

'I found the ring,' she confided excitedly. 'I was unpacking his clothes for him when I found it. It's really beautiful.' Penny paused for a moment then added, 'He's just waiting until we're alone before he asks me because it's going to be such a special moment that he won't want anyone to ruin it for us.' She gazed haughtily at Ginny as if hinting that she might be one of the potential saboteurs. 'Then, _afterwards_ , he'll tell all his family, I expect, and we'll set a firm date for the wedding next year.' She sighed. 'I've always wanted a summer wedding, with lots of beautiful roses. I already know I want a pink colour scheme and I know the wedding dress I want, too. I've had it all planned for years, just waiting for the day when Percy finally asked me.'

Ginny looked shocked. Hermione thought for a moment that she had actually stopped breathing and fought hard not to gasp.

'When do you think he's going to ask you?' Ginny asked.

Penny shrugged. 'He could have asked me this morning if he'd taken me on his walk with him.' The petulance was back in her voice. 'I'll get him to take me for a walk in a little while, just the two of us. He'll be able to do it then.' She smiled smugly, like the cat that had got the cream.

'Well, congratulations, Penny,' Hermione said, her voice falsely bright.

She was feeling completely stunned at the revelation of the ring. Penny had to be right, Percy was going to propose to her — there was no other reason he would have bought a ring. She could feel the tears threatening and she wanted to get away, to be on her own where she could scream and cry and rail against the injustice of what had happened to her. Even before lunch Percy had been telling her he loved her, yet all the time he had been planning to make Penny his wife. She hated both of them right now and couldn't bear the idea of spending another minute in either's company.

Hermione stood up. 'You'll have to excuse me but I'm not feeling very well. I think I had too much to eat at lunch and I'm feeling rather queasy.'

She was aware that Ginny was watching her and she hoped her reaction gave away nothing of her true feelings. Her friend was far too astute for her own good sometimes. As Hermione made her way to the door Ginny jumped up to join her, not wanting to stay with Penny either and wanting to talk to Hermione about what they had just heard.

'I'll come with you, Hermione,' she announced.

Hermione's heart sank. She didn't really need Ginny analysing Percy and Penny's relationship at the moment. She needed to be alone so she could cry.

She smiled. 'Okay, but let's make it quick. I think I'm going to be sick.'

'What the hell's going on?' Ginny asked her in a hiss as they climbed the stairs to their room. 'How can Percy be about to ask the Pig to marry him? He doesn't love her and I'm not sure from what I've seen of them today that he even likes her anymore. But if he isn't going to ask her what's he doing with an engagement ring?'

'But is it an engagement ring? Maybe it's just a friendship ring or something and Penny's got the wrong idea. Or maybe it's a present for your mum . . . or even you.' Hermione didn't believe for one minute that this was likely but anything was better than thinking about Percy marrying Penny.

'Maybe,' Ginny conceded but she didn't sound convinced either.

Hermione sped up feeling tears prickling at her eyes. She desperately didn't want Ginny to see them because then she would have to explain why she was so upset and there was no way she was admitting to anyone else what an idiot she had been. It was bad enough that Fred and George knew, although they had been taken in by Percy, too.

'I need to go to the loo. I'll join you shortly,' Hermione said.

She almost ran down the corridor, pleased to find the bathroom unoccupied. She wrenched open the door and flung herself inside, pulling the door closed behind her. She really did feel sick now. She dropped down beside the toilet and opened the lid as she bent over it, retching violently as the tears began to flow. 

* * *

Hermione was quiet on her return to the bedroom, and because she had actually been sick her skin looked pale and clammy. Ginny was worried about her but Hermione explained that she had just eaten too much and that a couple of hours to sleep it off would soon see her right. Her friend, who had wanted to talk further about the mistake she was convinced Percy was about to make with Penny, was disappointed but left Hermione alone in the bedroom while she went back downstairs to find Harry and Ron so she could tell them about it.

She lay on her bed in the rapidly fading afternoon light, once again trying to imagine how Penny could have got her wires crossed. It just wasn't possible. It was unlikely a ring designed merely as a present for Percy's mother or sister could have been mistaken for an engagement ring, and clearly Penny had been waiting for this to happen for years. Hermione understood how the girl felt, and although she disliked her because it meant the death of all her dreams, she couldn't begrudge Penny her moment of happiness.

Hermione now wished she had left the Burrow as soon as Penny and Percy had arrived. She should have made some excuse and gone home, back to her parents' house, even though they were away skiing in France. It would have been better to spend Christmas alone rather than having to go through the heartbreak she was currently suffering and the torment she was going to have to endure when Penny, even smugger than usual, announced their wedding plans. She was going to ask Hermione to be a bridesmaid, too. How was she supposed to turn that down without seeming bitter or unkind?

There was a faint tap at the door. Hermione raised her head and looked towards it but the door didn't open, which she knew it wouldn't because she had sealed it shut earlier along with putting a silencing charm on the room, not wanting anyone to disturb her while she wept. The door handle jiggled but nothing happened.

Hermione wondered whether it was Ginny and prayed that it wasn't Penny. She reached for her wand and removed the silencing charm, then left the bed and moved towards the door. There was silence for a moment then the knocking came again, louder this time. Hermione pointed her wand at the door, ready to remove the charm if it turned out to be another occupant of the room attempting to gain entry.

'Hermione, are you in there?'

Hermione started when she heard Percy's voice through the door. What the hell was he doing here? She stalked back to the bed and sat down, frowning.

'Hermione. Are you all right? Ginny said you weren't feeling very well and I thought I'd check you were okay as I was passing.' He waited for a couple of seconds then added hopefully, 'Open the door, please?'

Hermione stared at the door, her heart racing. She wanted to see Percy, wanted to confront him about the ring, but at the same time she couldn't speak to him. It hurt too much, and just seeing his face would probably be enough to set her off crying again.

'Go away, Percy, I'm okay, I just had too much food. I don't want to talk to anyone at the moment, I just want to sleep it off,' she responded dully.

'Are you sure you're all right?' Percy asked. He sounded really worried.

Hermione wanted to scream and shout and tell Percy that no, she wasn't all right, that despite everything he had told her he was going to marry Penny, and that she hated him. But there was no way she was going to make a scene here at the Burrow, especially when all Percy's family were here and she had no one.

'I'm fine, just go away and leave me to sleep,' Hermione told him, aware that she sounded grumpy but really not caring.

She relaxed slightly when Percy ceased knocking, presumably going back downstairs to join his fiancée. That made Hermione wonder whether he had actually asked her yet. Surely they must have been for their walk by now; it was beginning to get dark.

Maybe that was why Percy wanted to talk to her and had come up here. Maybe he thought the news would be better coming from him rather than her hearing it from everyone else when she went downstairs. That thought was enough to set off the tears again and she collapsed on the bed, sobbing into her pillow as her heart broke once more. 

* * *

Percy stared at the door worriedly. He wished Hermione would open it and talk to him. She sounded angry rather than unwell, but he had no idea what had happened to upset her this time. He wasn't even sure anything had happened as she had only been in the lounge with Penny and Ginny. He knew Hermione didn't like Penny, especially at the moment, but it was unlikely anything untoward would have passed between them in the short time between finishing lunch and Hermione disappearing upstairs. Perhaps she really was just feeling ill; it had been an extremely large lunch, after all.

For a moment he considered knocking again, forcing Hermione to open the door and talk to him as he wanted to be with her, even if only for a few minutes – stolen minutes were all he could hope for while they were at the Burrow with so many other people around so he had to take them wherever he found them. He dropped his hand. If she really wasn't well then it was selfish of him to expect her to get up and talk to him just because he wanted to look at her beautiful face.

He was about to go back downstairs when he remembered Penny was waiting for him. She had been wittering on about the two of them going for a walk as if it was something he was going to want to do, when in truth he would have been happy just to sit and talk to his father or even Bill and Charlie while he digested his lunch. Penny hadn't seemed happy at his refusal, and he got the feeling she was expecting something from him although he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to be providing.

Maybe she expected him to have got her a present other than the one that was housed with all the others under the Christmas tree in the lounge and was expecting to open it in private without the rest of the family there to see. If so, she was definitely going to be disappointed. The only person he had an extra present for was Hermione, and that would have to be given in secret if he could ever get her to meet him alone again.

Whatever her reasons, he had no desire to spend any longer with Penny than he had to, which would be during the unwrapping of the presents once his mother finished faffing around in the kitchen. Deciding to delay the inevitable, he climbed the stairs once more and headed for Fred and George's room. They seemed to know more about Hermione and her moods than anyone else in the house so maybe they would know whether she really was ill or what had caused her to lock herself away.

'Do you know what's wrong with Hermione?' Percy asked as he entered the room after knocking.

Fred and George were both laying on their beds. George was reading a book while Fred flicked through a magazine, using his wand to turn the pages.

'Hermione?' George frowned as he stared at his brother. 'You haven't upset her again, have you?'

'I don't think so,' Percy replied, sounding unsure. 'But she's locked herself away in her bedroom and is refusing to come out. She reckons she's not feeling well after lunch.'

'Maybe she isn't,' Fred said. He flicked the page again then sighed. 'You haven't done or said anything with Penny while Hermione was around, have you?'

'I've hardly talked to her, and you've been there pretty much the whole time when I have,' Percy pointed out.

'It's not that, then. What about when you were in the barn?' Fred looked slyly at Percy.

'It was good between us — you saw Hermione when we came out, she was fine,' Percy exclaimed.

Fred grinned. 'Just checking, Perce. No need to get so wound up. Perhaps she really is just ill.'

'Will you go and talk to her?' Percy asked. 'She won't talk to me but she's been happily confiding in you two today, so perhaps you can find out what's wrong.'

'Maybe there isn't anything wrong. Maybe she's just feeling sick,' Fred pointed out.

'Well, then you can confirm it. Please?'

George dropped his book and got up from the bed. 'I'll go and have a word with her.'

Fred sighed and dropped his wand on the bed on top of the magazine. He stood up, too.

'I'll come with you. I wouldn't want to miss out on any gossip.' He grinned at George. 'And I don't want you hitting on Hermione while I'm not there.'

'I don't want either of you hitting on her,' Percy said, sounding annoyed.

'Chill out, Percy, we're only doing some harmless flirting. If Hermione really has got the hots for you she's not going to be interested in us, is she?' Fred's grin had extended and looked particularly wicked.

'Perhaps I'll come with you,' Percy told them.

'That would defeat the purpose of us going to see her,' George explained patiently. 'You already know she won't talk to you. She won't be any more likely to talk to us, either, if she knows you're there.'

Defeated, Percy said, 'Okay, I'll stay here. But don't be too long . . . and no trying to take advantage of her.'

Fred and George left the room, seemingly ignoring Percy's last comment. He sat down on Fred's bed and picked up the magazine.

'Do you think she really is ill?' George asked worriedly as they made their way downstairs.

Fred shrugged. 'No idea. She seemed okay at lunch.'

'Perhaps she's worrying about Percy again,' George suggested. 'Hermione seems quite insecure at the moment and it doesn't seem to take much to set her off.'

They knocked on the door.

'Hermione, are you in there?'

Hermione stared at the door as someone knocked at it again. Obviously, they weren't going to leave her alone to wallow in her misery. A few seconds later she heard Fred's voice. Had the twins been sent to talk to her as Percy hadn't managed to? Were they going to be the bearers of bad tidings?

'Go away. I'm not feeling well and I'm trying to get some sleep,' she retorted, not bothering to keep the ire from her voice.

'What's the matter with you?' This was George.

'I feel sick after that huge lunch, I ate too much. Now I just want to sleep it off but everyone keeps trying to disturb me. Please, just leave me alone.'

'Are you sure you're not upset?' George asked.

'What have I got to be upset about?' Hermione asked, then instantly regretted it. Now George was going to tell her about Percy and Penny.

'We don't know. We just wanted to make sure you were okay,' Fred said.

Hermione frowned. Did the twins not know about the engagement? Maybe they hadn't been downstairs yet so hadn't heard the news. Well, it wasn't her place to tell them. It was nothing to do with her.

'I just feel sick, that's all. Now please, leave me alone.'

'As long as you're sure?' Fred asked, uncertainly. He, too, now had a feeling that Hermione wasn't cloistered away just because she was feeling sick.

'I'm sure. I just want to sleep,' Hermione answered.

'You know it'll be time to open the presents soon,' Fred reminded her.

'All the more reason for you to let me get some sleep now,' Hermione said, wishing they would leave her alone.

She sighed as she lay back down on the bed, clutching the pillow. She had forgotten about the presents. There was no way she was going to be able to get out of joining everyone else, so she needed to sort herself out to make sure she didn't break down when the inevitable bad news came her way.

'Okay. We're going. We'll come and get you when it's time for the presents. Hopefully you'll feel better by then,' George said. He tugged Fred's arm. Quietly he said to his twin, 'Come on, let's go. She's obviously not going to talk to us.'

They were just about to go back up to their room when they saw Ginny, heading up the stairs towards them.

'Have you been to see Hermione? How is she?' Ginny asked anxiously.

Fred shrugged. 'Dunno, she won't let us in. She says she's not feeling well.'

'She was sick earlier, I think,' Ginny told them. 'I was hoping she was feeling better by now. Mum says she'll be ready for present opening in ten minutes. I was just coming to tell you all so you could come downstairs.'

'I'd better go and tell Percy. He's waiting in our room,' George replied.

'Is that where he is? The Pig's been looking for him everywhere. I don't think she's very happy with him — although Merlin only knows why; she's about to get everything she wants,' Ginny said bitterly.

'What does that mean?' Fred asked.

Ginny sighed. 'It seems that after all these years our dear brother has decided to marry the Pig; even though she's not right for him at all.'

'What?' George said, stopping on the stairs. He stared at his sister in astonishment.

'You can't mean Percy,' Fred said. He looked as shocked as his twin.

Ginny nodded grimly. 'Yep. She told Hermione and me earlier, just after lunch. She was really excited about it. It was almost enough to make me feel sick.'

The twins stared towards the closed bedroom door, understanding dawning although they were both still confused.

'The Pig told you this?' Fred asked.

'Yes!' Ginny sounded annoyed at having to repeat herself. 'I told you, Hermione and I were in the lounge with her and she was talking to Hermione about Ron. Hermione told her they'd split up and we were joking about her going out with another brother, because I'd told Hermione at breakfast that she ought to go out with Percy in order to save him from the Pig — I mean, they'd make a great couple, I think so, anyway.

'So the Pig started twittering about how she hoped I didn't mean Percy, then dropped this bloody great bombshell about how they're getting married, probably next summer. She's already got it all arranged — in her mind, anyway — and she wants me and Hermione to be bridesmaids. Like that's ever going to happen.'

'But that's not possible,' Fred said. He looked more confused than ever.

'That's what I thought, and I told her that after all these years she should just get used to the fact that Percy was never going to marry her, but she was adamant that it was going to happen and that he's going to ask her today.'

'No, she must have got it wrong,' Fred said.

'I wanted to think that, too,' Ginny continued, sounding disgruntled. 'I even thought Percy was trying to get rid of her, that's why I suggested Hermione could be his girlfriend. But I'm afraid we're just going to have to get used to the fact that we're stuck with the Pig forever.'

'He's not in love with her,' George asserted.

'I didn't think so either, but he obviously must be otherwise he wouldn't be asking her to marry him, would he?' Ginny pointed out.

'Ginny, it's just not possible that he's getting married to the Pig,' Fred said again adamantly, shaking his head. 'He's in love with Hermione. That's why she's in there suddenly taken ill and he's upstairs panicking about why she won't talk to him.'

Ginny stared at her brother in shock. 'He's what? What do you mean he's in love with Hermione? How do you know?'

'What do you think we've been doing all day?' Fred asked.

'Trying to give the two of them some time alone together without the Pig finding out,' George added.

'So when you two were hanging around outside before lunch—'

'Percy and Hermione were in the barn having a good old snog under the mistletoe,' George admitted.

'I knew there was something going on,' Ginny said quietly, almost to herself, 'and I thought that he wasn't interested in the Pig any longer.'

'What I don't understand is why the Pig is so sure they're getting married. Surely Percy hasn't been stupid enough to talk himself into it, has he?' Fred wondered.

'Probably not if he's been hiding up here with you two, and that would explain why the Pig's so annoyed. She was expecting him to ask her by now,' Ginny said.

'But why? What made her so sure he was going to ask her?' George asked. 'I can't believe Percy would have given her any reason to expect a proposal.'

'Because she found the engagement ring he bought for her,' Ginny said.

Fred stared at Ginny for a few seconds as his mind ticked.

'He didn't buy it for the Pig, he bought it for Hermione,' he announced excitedly. 'I bet you anything you like it was supposed to be for her.'

'Fred, don't you remember? Percy told Hermione he had a special present for her,' George reminded him. 'We assumed he was talking about sex, but what if it was the ring?'

'Shit. The Pig found it and thought it was for her, and then she told Hermione, who was already upset because of Percy bringing the Pig to the Burrow for Christmas,' Fred chimed in.

Ginny looked confused. 'I don't really understand what's going on here but I don't think you've got time to explain it either. We need to get downstairs for present opening and we need to get Percy and Hermione.'

'We need to talk to Percy right now,' Fred said. 'Ginny, don't disturb Hermione just yet. We'll pick her up on the way back down once we've talked to Percy. Don't worry, the Pig isn't going to be joining our family anytime soon, but I think Percy's going to have to have a conversation he's been putting off somewhat sooner than he wanted to.'

'We'll explain it to you after the presents have been opened,' George promised with a smile as he stared at his confused sister.

'Okay. Don't be long, everyone is ready down there and we're just waiting for you lot,' Ginny warned. She turned and went back downstairs.

'We'll be five minutes,' George said.

'Seven at the most,' Fred countered with a grin.

Without another word they barrelled up the stairs and into their bedroom where Percy was waiting for them, looking anxious.

'Have you asked the Pig . . . I mean Penny to marry you?' Fred asked.

Percy scowled at him. 'No, of course not. I love Hermione. I thought we'd been through all this.'

'Good.' This was George.

'Right, so we have to go and talk to Hermione,' Fred said.

'What's this all about?' Percy asked.

'Hermione's upset because she thinks you and Penny are getting married,' George told him.

'What the hell made her think that?' Percy asked. He sounded annoyed.

'Penny told her — her and Ginny. She asked them to be bridesmaids at your wedding,' Fred said.

'Why would she say that?' Percy blurted, confused as well as annoyed now.

'Can you think of any reason?' Fred asked.

'No. I've tried to keep away from her since we got here. I wanted to be with Hermione. You know that.'

'Well, apparently she found an engagement ring and she's convinced that you're about to ask her to marry you,' Fred explained.

'Oh, fuck. I bought the ring for Hermione,' Percy admitted. 'I know we haven't been together for long but I knew that first night we spent together that she was everything I was looking for so I didn't think there was any point in waiting. But then everything went wrong — my fault, I know — but I brought the ring with me, just in case. I was hoping Hermione would change her mind and if that happened I was going to propose. That's why I wanted to see her tonight, to ask her to marry me.'

'Well, your _girlfriend_ got hold of the ring and she thinks it's for her because you haven't told her the truth,' Fred said bluntly. 'And she's telling everyone who'll listen that you're getting married in the summer.'

Percy moaned unhappily. 'Oh gods, what am I going to do?'

'Well, you're a bit stuffed at the moment as we've all got to go downstairs to open presents so there's no time to sort it out, but we need to get Hermione out of the bedroom and then after the presents have been opened you're going to need to talk to Penny,' George said.

'. . . and you're going to need to tell her the truth,' Fred added seriously.

Percy went pale at the thought of having to confront Penny, especially now he knew why she was annoyed with him. He now also knew why Hermione didn't want to talk to him. Gods, it was all such a bloody mess.

'You go downstairs and join the others,' Fred advised. 'We'll have a word with Hermione. She probably doesn't want to speak to you at the moment, anyway, so we'll explain to her what's happened. You can talk to her after you've talked to Penny.' He saw Percy's miserable face and continued, 'It's the only way, Perce. You can't put this off any longer, you know you can't.'

'It'll be better for everyone once you've sorted it out,' George pointed out.

Percy sighed deeply. 'Okay, I'll go and get the presents ready. Please, just make sure that Hermione knows that Penny and I aren't getting married.'


	7. Chapter 6

There was a knock on the door of Hermione's bedroom. She sighed, still laying on her back, looking up at the ceiling. Why wouldn't they all just leave her in peace? It hadn't even been ten minutes since the twins had disturbed her.

'Hermione, you need to come out. It's time to open the presents,' George told her through the closed door.

Already? It was too soon.

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath and sat up. She wasn't ready to face what she knew was coming and she really didn't want to go downstairs to join the others but knew she had no choice. Present opening was a family participation sport at the Burrow and there was no way they would allow her to stay up here on her own while it happened. In fact, knowing Mrs Weasley, she probably wouldn't even let any of them touch the presents until they were all in the lounge together.

If she continued to refuse to open the door and go downstairs she would ruin everyone's Christmas, and whilst a small part of her didn't care because her Christmas and her entire life, come to that, had been ruined, she really wasn't that selfish; despite her own heartbreak she didn't want to make anyone else unhappy.

With another sigh she used her wand to remove the wards on the door as she stood up, preparing to leave. A second later it burst open and Fred and George came charging into the room, seeming almost hyperactive. Hermione stared at them, still trying to force herself into moving. Fred pushed the door shut with his foot.

'Percy _isn't_ marrying the Pig,' George blurted.

Hermione stared at him in shock, not seeming able to get her mind around what he was saying.

'It's all a big misunderstanding,' Fred continued.

Hermione shook her head, looking sad. 'No, it's not. Penny told us she found the engagement ring.'

'Weelll . . . she found _an_ engagement ring . . . but it isn't hers,' Fred said.

'Percy bought it for you,' George finished.

Hermione sat back down on the bed, not really able to believe what she was being told. The twins rushed over to sit either side of her.

'Percy's in love with you, Hermione, not the Pig,' Fred told her as he took hold of one of her hands.

'Yeah, he told us that he bought the ring for you. That's the special present he keeps banging on about,' George confided. He had taken hold of her other hand and was patting it in what he hoped was a soothing manner.

Hermione shook her head again. 'But that's not possible, we've only spent one night together. He's Penny boyfriend. He can't ask me to marry him while he's still going out with her. It's not right. Anyway, she was so sure he was going to ask her. She's got it all planned and everything. She told us it's going to be next summer.'

'Well, she might have planned it but she was wasting her time. He definitely isn't going to propose to her because we asked him about it,' Fred insisted. 'I know he's made a complete mess of everything, Hermione, but Perce really does love you, and it's you he wants to marry.'

'Oh god, this is all such a mess, isn't it?' Hermione said miserably. She had started crying again.

Fred released her hand to wrap his arms around her, instead.

'Yes,' he admitted honestly. 'But at least Percy's finally going to talk to the Pig and tell her the truth.'

'Don't call Penny that,' Hermione chided wetly.

Fred chuckled and shook his head as he stared at Hermione. 'Even now you're still thinking about her feelings. You really are the better person, Hermione. Percy's lucky to have you, although I'm still not sure he deserves you.'

'He's still Penny's boyfriend so nothing's changed,' Hermione pointed out, pulling away from Fred as she dried her tears.

'Not for long,' George prophesied. 'Percy's going to have to tell her because she's waiting for a proposal that's never going to come and her mood is only going to deteriorate the longer she has to wait. Also, he knows he can't ask you until she's gone.

'Come on, dry your eyes. We've got presents to open and everyone will be getting antsy waiting for us. We're holding everyone up. Even Mum's ready before us for the first time ever.'

Hermione wiped her eyes and blew her nose, then stood up.

'Come on then. Let's go and get this over and done with.'

'It's supposed to be fun,' Fred reminded her as they walked out the door. 'It's Christmas, remember?'

Hermione tried to smile as she walked into the lounge and saw everyone else assembled and ready for the presents. She noticed that Penny was having as much trouble as she was and the woman kept giving Percy sidelong glances, which he was steadfastly ignoring. Instead he was gazing at Hermione, looking anxious.

'There you are, finally,' Arthur said jovially as George entered the room last. He passed the three of them full glasses of something that Hermione strongly suspected was sherry. He looked at Hermione in concern. 'Are you feeling a bit better now, Hermione? Ginny said you weren't feeling too good earlier.'

'I just had too much to eat and it made me feel sick,' Hermione told him with a shrug. 'I feel much better after a lie-down, though, thank you, Mr Weasley.'

'Are we ready to open the presents, then?' Arthur asked the room at large, apparently satisfied with Hermione's answer.

There was a general chorus of yeses.

'I said, are we ready to open the presents?' Arthur repeated more loudly. 'Come on, you can be a bit more excited than that.'

With a laugh, everyone responded with a loud yes.

'Will you do the honours, Mummy?' he asked Molly who was already seated on the ground by the tree.

She beamed and picked up the first present and studied the label as Hermione took a sip of the sherry, trying to ignore Percy who she knew was trying to catch her eye.

'The first present is for Bill,' Molly announced, waving the parcel in the air as Bill stepped forward to claim it to a round of applause from most of the room.

Hermione moved towards Harry and Ron, wanting to get as far away from Percy as she could.

'Are you okay?' Ron asked quietly as he and Harry stared at her worriedly. 'Ginny told us you weren't feeling very well.'

'I'm fine,' she assured him with a smile. 'It was my own fault for eating so much at lunchtime. I felt really sick and bloated afterwards but a couple of hours' sleep has helped it to go down.'

'I'm actually feeling quite peckish now,' Ron admitted.

Hermione smiled and rolled her eyes at him. 'You're always hungry, Ron. I don't know where you put it all.'

'I'm a growing boy,' he replied, smiling too.

'Yeah, outwards as well as upwards,' Hermione retorted, and she patted his stomach.

A few seconds later she passed Harry a present that had been handed to her, then turned back towards the tree.

'Here's one for Hermione,' Molly said happily, and Hermione stepped forward to take the large parcel. She knew without even looking at the label that it was from Mr and Mrs Weasley and was going to be something knitted.

Fifteen minutes later everyone had a nice big pile of presents and was busy unwrapping them, comparing their hauls to others in the family and just generally chatting about the presents they had received. Fred and George were busy going through their piles to see if either of them had received anything the other one hadn't. So far their presents had been identical.

Hermione watched them all, feeling more content now. She was glad that she had joined everyone else for this as it had cheered her up considerably, although she was aware that it helped that she now knew for certain that Percy wasn't going to be marrying Penny. For a moment a small feeling of excitement ran through her at the thought that the engagement ring was intended for her rather than her love rival and she wondered what it looked like; but then she remembered that Percy and Penny were still a couple – for the time being, at least, and until that changed there was still going to be nothing between her and Percy whether there was an engagement ring or not.

'What did you get?' Ginny asked as she sat down next to Hermione, dumping a pile of presents on the floor in front of her.

She looked over at Hermione's pile and spotted a pink leather stationery set containing a filing tray and a holder for quill and inks. There was also a bottle of ink and a quill with a matching pink feather. She snorted.

'Percy bought you that, didn't he?' she said with a grin and an eye roll. 'Imagine, stationery for a Christmas present.'

'I quite like it,' Hermione said loyally.

'Nice colour,' Ginny said, 'although I prefer mine.' She lifted up most of the pile to show that she had exactly the same set although it was navy blue.

'Ah, I take it there wasn't much thought going into this year's gifts, then,' Hermione answered with a grin.

'You've been keeping secrets from me,' Ginny said suddenly, staring intently at Hermione.

Hermione blushed and looked around hurriedly to see who was listening, then gave a subtle shake of her head.

'Not here,' she whispered. 'There's too many people around.'

Ginny smiled and stood up. She grabbed Hermione's arm and began to drag her up, too.

'Hermione and I are going to make snowballs for everyone. Who wants one?' she asked, counting the numbers as people indicated their interest. Ginny turned towards Penny, who was still looking miserable. 'Do you want one, Penny?'

Penny shook her head, her lips tight and thin. She looked meaningfully towards Percy.

'I'll give you a hand,' Percy offered as Penny glared at him.

'No!' Hermione retorted, then realising how harsh she sounded she smiled and added, 'Ginny and I will be fine, thanks, Percy.' She hurried out of the room before she had to say anything more, certain she was blushing furiously.

Percy looked a little crestfallen. Ginny patted his arm soothingly.

'We're having a girly chat, no boys allowed,' she told him as if in explanation. 'Anyway, don't you have something you need to do?' She indicated towards Penny with her eyes.

Percy seemed to pale at this, understanding that Ginny, too, now knew about his relationship with Hermione. He looked unhappily after the woman he loved for a second but then gave the briefest nod.

'You're right. I need to sort this out first.'

Leaving him, Ginny followed Hermione out to the kitchen. She was already getting the required number of glasses from the cupboard, counting them as she put them on the table.

'Come on then, spill,' Ginny said. 'What's this I hear about you and Percy being in love?'

Hermione stared at her for a moment, then continued with the glasses.

'Snogging in the barn and all sorts, apparently,' Ginny continued.

Hermione slammed the glasses she was carrying down on the table, her eyes flashing with fury.

'I'm going to kill those two when I get hold of them,' she said.

Ginny chuckled. 'As I understand it, Fred and George were playing cupid and keeping the two of you safe from the Pig.'

Hermione shook her head and sighed wearily. 'We really ought to stop calling her that, you know.'

'Why? It's the perfect name for her,' Ginny insisted as she retrieved various bottles from the cupboard. 'Anyway, stop trying to change the subject, Hermione. What's going on with you and Percy?'

' _Nothing_ is going on,' Hermione insisted. 'He's going out with Penny, remember?'

'Yes, and I know how badly you took it when she told us they were getting married. Let's face it: you weren't really feeling ill, Hermione, you were just a bit bloated after the large lunch. Then Fred and George tell me that the engagement ring the Pig found is for you, not her, and that Percy's in love with you. How the hell did that happen?'

Hermione sighed, unscrewing the bottle of Advocaat and measuring it into a small glass before pouring into one of the larger glasses on the table. She followed suit with the others.

'I know I was in love with Ron for years, but to be honest I've always had a bit of a thing about Percy. He's so—'

'Boring?' Ginny suggested blithely.

'Sensible . . . and hard-working,' Hermione retorted. 'But I always knew he was unattainable. He and Penny . . . well, they were the unbreakable couple, weren't they?'

'When did you first realise you fancied him?' Ginny asked interestedly. She was putting a dash of lime cordial into each of the glasses.

Hermione put down the bottle of Advocaat and picked up the lemonade. 'Probably the first time I was at the Burrow and he complained about everyone making too much noise for him to get his homework done,' she admitted with a faint smile. Her cheeks were turning pink. 'I think I realised he was my ideal man.'

'So you've fancied him all this time, but when did you and he – hold on a second, I'm going to put some vodka in this.' Ginny picked up the vodka bottle and added a splash to each glass.

'About a month before Christmas,' Hermione admitted, wanting to get the conversation over and done with as soon as possible without going too in-depth. 'It was a stupid thing that should never have happened, but it did. Percy told me he was going to end his relationship with Penny afterwards so that we could be together but, well, you saw what happened. They turned up here . . . still a couple.'

'I have to admit I'm amazed,' Ginny said after a few seconds of thought.

Hermione looked confused. 'Why? Weren't you the one who was suggesting only this morning that I should go out with Percy?'

'Oh yeah, and I was sort of serious about that . . . but I dunno, I never really expected it to happen, if you know what I mean.'

'Well, I'm sorry if I've upset your expectations,' Hermione said, her voice a shade cooler now.

'I didn't mean it like that. I think it's bloody brilliant,' Ginny assured her soothingly.

Hermione poured the lemonade into the glasses. Ginny picked up a twizzle stick and gave each completed drink a quick stir to mix the ingredients, then selected one of the glasses and took a sip. She held the glass up looking at it admiringly.

'That's really good! What I mean is, I never thought Percy had the sense or the gumption to go for it, although as I said he has changed since leaving home.'

'More than you know,' Hermione told her.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. 'What does that mean?'

'It's not for me to tell you,' Hermione said smugly, 'but let's just say that your brother isn't anywhere near as boring as you all think he is.'

'Really?' Ginny grinned wickedly at her friend.

Hermione blushed again. 'I'm not saying anything else but yes, I admit I'm in love with Percy and yes, I was upset when Penny mentioned them getting engaged. But it's all up to your brother now. He and I can't be a couple while he's still with Penny, and whatever he may have said about the engagement ring that's not happening either unless he gets rid of her.' She started loading the glasses onto a tray that Ginny had retrieved from the cupboard. Her voice darkened a little as she continued, 'Unfortunately, that's where it all falls down. Percy doesn't seem to be able to do that most important part, so here we are.' She picked up the tray.

'He's going to have to tell her, otherwise everyone's going to be unhappy,' Ginny pointed out as she took the tray off Hermione and said with a wink, 'You carry our glasses. I might have put a bit more vodka in them than in the others.' Then, returning to the original subject, 'The Pig's unhappy because she's waiting for Percy to propose, you're unhappy because you could be with Percy and he's still stuck with the Pig, and Percy's unhappy because he wants to be with you and you won't go near him until he gets rid of the Pig. What a mess.'

'He should have done what he said he was going to do, then, shouldn't he?' Hermione said, trying not to get upset again. 'It's Percy's fault we're in this mess and only he can sort it out.'

'And if he doesn't?' Ginny asked worriedly.

'I'll leave tomorrow,' Hermione told her. 'I can go to my parents. To be honest, Gin, it's been really hard seeing the two of them together, especially after everything he told me . . . everything he promised me. I stayed for Christmas Day because I knew it would cause problems and wasn't fair to your parents after everything they had arranged, but I can't put up with seeing them together for another few days. I'd rather be on my own.'

'Percy needs to sort this out as soon as possible, then. Maybe he needs a little help from the twins,' Ginny said.

Hermione gave a bitter chuckle. 'Yes, he does, but whether he will or not is another matter. I really don't think the twins will help, though. I think they'll just make things worse. Come on, Ginny, let's go and give these out.' 

* * *

Back in the lounge, Percy realised that Fred and George were staring at him. Both of them gave him a double thumbs-up sign, then nodded towards Penny. He scowled back at them, annoyed at how obvious they were being, but it seemed that she hadn't spotted them. Her gaze was fixed only on him.

He took a deep breath as he girded himself to talk to her. He really wished he had managed to get this out of the way before the Christmas holiday because then he would have been with Hermione by now. Percy knew that cowardice was one of the reasons he had put off talking to Penny until it was too late; although he had been every bit as busy as he had told Hermione he was, he could have found the time — but it was so difficult. The two of them had been a couple since their fifth year at Hogwarts and had been through a lot together.

It was hard to break things off even though he wasn't in love with Penny, but now it was being forced upon him. In some ways that made it even more difficult because he was going to completely ruin Penny's Christmas without meaning to. If only she hadn't found the ring he could have put it off until later, but now she knew about it and he could feel her anger with him from where he was standing beside her and knew it was because he hadn't proposed as she had been expecting.

For a moment he considered waiting until Hermione and Ginny came back with the drinks, but Percy knew that was just cowardice again. A snowball wasn't going to give him much in the way of Dutch courage; all he would gain was another two people wondering why he wasn't talking to Penny, which would stress him out even more and might lead to him saying the wrong thing.

He touched Penny's arm gently.

'I want to talk to you. Do you think we can go for a walk or something?' Percy was pleased to hear his voice sounded as strong as it always did.

A smile lit up Penny's face as the anger she had been carrying around waiting for Percy to do his duty lifted and she nodded enthusiastically. This was it. It was finally going to happen. She had been waiting for this moment for such a long time.

If she was honest, there was a little part of her that was disappointed that after making her wait so long Percy wasn't going to get down on one knee and propose to her in front of all his family as she had hoped he would. She wanted them all to see how much he loved her. She knew the twins and Ginny talked about her behind her back and had never really believed that they would get married — hadn't Ginny said as much only this afternoon?

But she knew Percy was a private man, and more so since his split from his family, and this obviously wasn't something he wanted to share with them — presumably because it was too precious a moment to waste on the family that had let him down when he needed them most. At least she could take comfort in the fact that it meant the twins wouldn't ruin the moment by taking the piss when he knelt down.

'Of course, Percy,' she said, and she took his arm and waited for him to lead her out of the room.

He debated where to go, knowing the kitchen was occupied and not wanting to go near any of the bedrooms. There was nothing for it: they were going to have to go outside, despite it being bloody freezing.

'Shall we get our coats and go for a walk?' he suggested.

Penny's smile faltered a little. 'It's cold out there, and isn't it a bit late for a walk? It's dark now.'

Percy gave a small shrug, trying to appear insouciant. 'I'd really like us to spend a bit of time alone, and wherever we go in here we're in danger of bumping into someone, especially with the twins playing their tricks all over the place.'

Remembering what they had done with the mistletoe that morning, Penny scowled, but then her face cleared. She had to remember that Percy was just about to propose to her. What was a bit of cold weather compared to that?

'Okay, that sounds good to me,' she told him, trying to sound more eager than she felt. She wanted Percy to know he was marrying someone who wanted to do things he wanted, who was supportive of him and wasn't an argumentative naysayer.

As they walked towards the door it opened and Hermione and Ginny came through. Ginny was carrying a tray full of glasses and Hermione was carrying the extra. Percy's eyes caught Hermione's for a moment and she stared at him, seeming unhappy, but then realising what he was doing she gave him a small smile.

Ginny appeared in front of them. 'Snowball, Percy? Penny, I know you said you didn't want one but there's a spare if you've changed your mind.'

Percy took a glass and took a sip, giving a little cough as he tasted much more alcohol than he had expected.

Ginny waggled her eyebrows at him as she grinned wickedly. 'It's got a special ingredient in it.'

Penny, who had been about to take a glass, put hers back.

Ginny stared at her disgustedly for a second then said, 'It's only a bit of vodka, Penny. Don't worry, we're not trying to poison you.'

Penny, feeling embarrassed, picked up the glass and pushed at Percy's arm, indicating she wanted to leave.

Four sets of eyes watched them go.

Fred and George scurried over to join the girls, taking their own glasses from the tray. Ginny left them to hand out the other drinks.

'Finally,' Fred said.

'I thought he was never going to do it,' George added.

'They've only left the room,' Hermione pointed out. 'It doesn't mean he'll tell her.''

'Of course he will. He doesn't have any choice,' George said.

'No, 'cos we'll kill him otherwise,' Fred stated.

'That wasn't exactly what I meant, although I do agree with the sentiment,' George admitted. 'I meant that now they've gone off the Pig's going to be expecting him to propose, so even if he doesn't want to do it she'll force the issue.'

'Stop calling Penny that,' Hermione said automatically.

The twins both rolled their eyes are her.

'You are too nice, Hermione,' Fred said. 'You need to toughen up and kick that boyfriend of yours—'

'He's not my boyfriend, he's Penny's boyfriend,' she cut in.

Fred growled. 'All right, your soon-to-be-boyfriend, then. You need to force him to make decisions because he'll never do it for himself, and you need to stop being so bloody submissive.'

Hermione stared at him in surprise, willing herself not to blush. Surely the twins didn't know about the bondage from the night she had spent with Percy, did they? She had never mentioned it, she was sure.

Fred sighed in the face of her stare. 'I'm not sure I used the right word there, but you know what I mean. You should have stopped worrying about whether Percy was serious and forced him to tell her. Or when they turned up here you should have made him go and sort it out with her straight away, not mooch around unhappily because you were trying to keep the Pig happy.'

Relieved that her secret wasn't common knowledge, she admitted, 'You're not telling me anything I don't already know, Fred, but I'm just not that sort of person. I understand why Percy wouldn't want to hurt Penny by dumping her over Christmas – it's not like they've only been together for a few months. It's been almost eight years and you just don't do that to someone even if you don't like them much anymore.'

Fred raised his hands, gesturing in frustration. 'I give up. Perhaps you and Percy do deserve each other.'

Hermione, aware that their conversation was getting louder and that there were plenty of people around who might listen in if it got any more audible, put her hand on Fred's arm, calming him down.

Quietly she said, 'I know you're thinking about me and I'm really grateful for that, but everything's happening the way it must now and we can only wait.' She raised her finger to stop him from speaking. 'Percy will talk to her or he won't. Only he can make that decision, but I have told him that I won't have anything more to do with him until he's single, so the choice is his.

'I know you think he loves me – I think he does too, but it's not up to us to fight his battles for him. When, and only when, he's ended the relationship with Penny he can ask me out or whatever it is he wants to do, but only he can decide when that will be. Only he knows how important or otherwise it is to him, however frustrating it seems to us.'

'So what, are you saying you'll be okay if they come back from wherever it is they've gone and he hasn't told her?' Fred asked sceptically.

'No, I'll be absolutely bloody furious,' Hermione said. 'But then I won't be talking to him again until he does tell her, so I'm sure he'll pretty quickly get the idea.'

Fred didn't look convinced. 'Maybe, but I still reckon you're too soft on him.'

'It doesn't matter. He's going to have dumped her by the time they come back,' George predicted. 'Just you wait and see.'


	8. Chapter 7

It was extremely cold outside, with a bracing wind that considerably increased the chill factor. Percy didn't want to be out in it for long but he also didn't want to take Penny to the barn. That was his and Hermione's place and he didn't want to ruin the wonderful memories they had created there that morning by having an argument with Penny in there. Instead, they made their way towards the gate. He had no particular route in mind although there was a bench in the village they could rest on if they hadn't managed to finish saying what needed to be said by then.

'Do you really want to go for a walk?' Penny asked sweetly. 'It's awfully cold out here.' She was using her 'trying to show willingness but making it clear she absolutely detested what they were doing' voice, the one she had used when she was introduced to his body modifications.

'I really need to talk to you and I don't want any chance of us being disturbed,' Percy said.

'Well, we don't need to go far, do we? It's too cold for anyone else to be out and we're quite a long way from the village so no one from there is going to disturb us,' she pointed out.

Percy sighed and stopped next to the gate, turning to look at Penny.

She smiled at him. 'Actually, Percy, I know what you're going to say — you don't even need to ask me, you know the answer is yes.'

Percy stared at her. 'What do you mean, the answer is yes?'

Penny giggled in what she obviously thought was an attractively girlish manner. 'Of course I'll marry you, silly. I would have done before but you never asked, although I was always hoping you would.'

Percy's face darkened as he shook his head. 'Penny, I—'

'I was telling the girls about it earlier,' she continued, now on a roll and not taking any notice of Percy. In her mind, she knew what was happening and didn't need real life confirmation. 'I thought a summer wedding, pink colour scheme — a bit difficult with Ginevra's hair but with the right shade—'

Percy took hold of her hands, shaking her. 'Penny!'

She stopped and looked at him. 'Don't you want a summer wedding?' she asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

Percy couldn't think of any way to say it without hurting her. She was obviously so caught up in her fantasies that anything he said was going to be painful, so he might as well be direct.

'I'm not asking you to marry me.' He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. Penny stared at him in shock and he could see the tears already glistening in her eyes. 'I'm sorry, Penny, but I don't want to marry you.'

She looked like she had been punched, bending almost double as a loud wail erupted from her. Percy looked around worriedly in case the sound could be heard in the house and someone should come running to see what the noise was and think he had attacked her, but fortunately they seemed to be far enough away and there was no movement from that direction.

He moved towards Penny, intending to help her, but she pushed him away as she stood up, her face streaked with tears.

'What do you mean you don't want to marry me? What have we been doing for the last eight years if we're not going to get married? I can't believe you're telling me this.' Her words, high-pitched and rapid, were punctuated by sobs.

Percy rubbed his eyes and sighed. 'I'm sorry, Penny. I should have told you before that I don't think our relationship is going anywhere and that I think it would be better if we split up. I meant to tell you before Christmas but I was so busy with work that I didn't get a chance, and by the time I did you'd already accepted Mum's invitation to come here. I didn't want to ruin your Christmas so I held off saying anything, although I know now that was a mistake.'

'But that's what you're doing, isn't it?' Penny accused. 'And on Christmas Day, too. You couldn't have chosen a worse time to do it. Why do it now . . . and why did you get me an engagement ring if you don't want to marry me?'

'The ring isn't for you,' he said quietly as Penny stared at him in disbelief. More forcefully now, as he felt the reins holding his temper at bay slipping away from him, Percy continued, 'I had no intention of saying anything to you until after we left the Burrow, honestly I didn't. But then you found the ring and got completely the wrong idea so I had no choice. You were telling Hermione and Ginny all about our wedding, which hadn't even been considered let alone planned. What was I supposed to do?

'I could have ignored you, but your mood has been getting worse all day because you were expecting me to propose and it wasn't going to happen. Should I have waited for you to start an argument with me because of it and then tell you, hoping that we weren't in the middle of the lounge with everyone else when it happened?

'Or should I have refused to speak to you about it at all, walked away from any arguments and your bad moods just so I could wait until after we left the Burrow? How would that be any better? Your bad mood would have ruined everyone's Christmas, not just ours.'

'But I don't understand.' Penny's voice wobbled as she spoke.

Percy looked at the pathetic broken woman standing in front of him and realised that it wouldn't have mattered when he told her; the reaction would still have been the same and her Christmas would have been ruined anyway.

More gently he tried to explain. 'When we first started seeing each other, at school, we were well-matched. We both wanted the same things and I'll admit you supported me well, especially through the early years at the Ministry when—' He broke off for a moment, not wanting to bad-mouth his family now he was reconciled with them. 'But we've grown apart in these last few years and I don't think we suit each other any longer, not if we're honest about it.

'I've changed a lot, Penny. You know I have because you're not happy about it. Oh, I know you never say anything but the things you don't say and your tone of voice and the way you act, they say more than the words you don't speak.'

'But I love you,' Penny said. 'I've always loved you and you love me.'

Percy shook his head. 'That's not true. You love the me that was a Prefect and Head Boy, who wanted to be the Minister for Magic and worked solidly towards those ends regardless of anything that might get in my way. I'm not that person any longer, I haven't been for a long time, and I'm not ever going to be that person again.'

Penny was shaking her head vigorously, not wanting to accept Percy's words.

'Look at how you reacted to my piercings and my tattoos,' he said gently.

'But that's just a phase, a need to rebel against your family. I understood that even if I didn't like it'. Her saccharine-sweet voice was laced with disgust. 'Once you realise you don't need them anymore you can get rid of them, then you can settle down and get back to working on becoming the Minister for Magic. Kingsley won't be there forever, you know. Getting married would ground you, Percy, make you realise how far off-track you've gone.'

Percy was shaking his head sadly. 'But that's the point, Penny. I haven't gone off-track. My life is going exactly the way I want it to and my plans don't involve becoming the Minister for Magic. I like where I am, I like the person I am now, and I love my piercings and tattoos and will never get rid of them. It's not a phase. It's who I am now.

'I'm sorry that I'm not who you want me to be, I truly am. But I've found a life I enjoy and I honestly can't see you sharing it with me; and if you think about it properly you know I'm right. I know you have this image in your brain of how we should be, with that perfect wedding that you've been fantasising about for so long, but I can tell you now that even if we did get married it wouldn't be like that and our life afterwards wouldn't be the fairy-tale you're after either.

'You won't even have sex with me – eight years and not once have I managed to get you anywhere near a bed. I know why and I respect your choice, but that sort of life just isn't for me. I like sex, I love it, and I want to share my life with someone who enjoys it as much as I do, who is willing to be creative and experimental, who doesn't mind if I suddenly decide to tie her to the bed or spend hours teasing her into a frenzy before finally giving her release. Be honest, Penny. You are not that person.'

Penny was looking at him with horror as if she didn't recognise the man standing in front of her.

'Why have you become like this?' she asked, her voice a shocked whisper.

Percy shrugged. 'It's evolution. It's just the way I am, and I'm no longer willing to tie myself down to a way of life I hate just to keep the status quo and make you happy. I don't love you and I haven't done for quite some time, but I was never sure how to tell you without badly upsetting you. I thought that as the gulf widened between us you might realise we weren't suited any longer and make the decision to end it on your own terms. I never realised you were so firmly entrenched in your fantasies that you couldn't accept the real me. I'm sorry, I really am.'

'Who is the ring for?' Penny asked dully. Percy rubbed his forehead as he debated what to say. She stared at him, understanding suddenly dawning, her voice low and full of loathing as she said, 'It's for Hermione, isn't it?'

'Yes,' he said simply.

'That's what all that stuff this morning was about, that mistletoe. That wasn't the twins pulling one of their pranks, was it?'

'Actually, it was,' Percy said. 'They had no idea what they were doing when they put the mistletoe over us. They honestly thought they were winding us up. They only picked up on what was happening because of my disappointment at you kissing me.'

'And when I couldn't find you this morning?'

'I was with Hermione. We didn't do anything except for a few kisses — more mistletoe from the twins.'

'You expect me to believe that, do you?' Penny's voice was harsh and accusing. 'How long has it been going on, this thing with you and . . . _her?_ She told me she only split up with Ron about a month ago.'

Percy nodded. 'It's true. We got together at the end of November. It wasn't planned, it just happened and it was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to me. She is everything you aren't: accepting, non-judgmental, and most crucially she likes the me I am now, the one with the body modifications and the reduced career plan. She likes that and wants to be with me for that reason, not because she's hoping I'll come to my senses one day. We've actually only spent one night together but I knew immediately that Hermione was the one I wanted to spend my life with.'

'You had sex with her.' Penny seemed completely floored by this revelation, more than any other.

'Yes.' Percy didn't really know what else to say.

She glared at him. 'You honestly expect me to believe that this . . . this affair has only happened once? You're a liar.'

Percy crossed his fingers behind his back. He knew telling Penny about what had happened in the barn wouldn't help.

'No, I'm not. I'll admit that I've fancied Hermione for years, since we were at school, although to be honest, it was mainly because she and I were on the same side – annoyed with people for making a noise when we were trying to do our homework and both frustrated and fed up with the twins and their stupid pranks. It was a teenage crush that ended when I started seeing you. You were everything she was but you were older and suited me and the career dreams I had at the time so well.

'But Hermione's changed just as I have and I can't deny that attraction anymore – and in truth, I don't want to. I like you, Penny. I respect your standards and beliefs but I can't live up to them any longer and I don't even want to try. I know it hurts now, and I know the timing absolutely stinks, and once again I really am sorry for that. But one day in the future you're going to look back and realise I was right and that ending this relationship now is absolutely the right thing to do.'

'Isn't there anything I can say to change your mind?' Penny asked unhappily. 'I can try to change. I promise I will. We don't have to get married just yet, we can leave it another couple of years and I'll let you choose what you want to do rather than make all the decisions myself – although I still want my wedding dress, the one I've always wanted. I'm sure we can make it work if we just try harder. I know everyone thinks I'm too clingy but it's only because I love you, and I just want the best for you. Please . . . Percy, I'm begging you . . . I'm sure we can make it work.'

Percy stared at her, shaking his head, wondering what he could say to get Penny to understand that their relationship was over.

'We can't make it work, Penny, because for a start I don't want to. I don't love you, and if we stay together as things are it will only make us both really unhappy. We already are; you just haven't admitted it to yourself yet.'

He saw her heartbroken face, and knowing he had no choice but to brutally spell it out to her he continued, 'Think of it this way. If we stay together, I want us to go back to my flat, tonight. I want to have sex with you, tonight – I don't want to have to wait "another couple of years" until we get married. Also, I can tell you now that I _will_ be tying you to the bed because that's something I've discovered I rather like doing, and we will be having oral sex as well as intercourse, and maybe even anal, we'll see how it goes.'

Penny stared at him completely aghast. 'Why are you saying these horrible things, Percy? This isn't you. You should never have got those piercings, that's where it all went wrong. You're not a pervert so I don't know why you're saying these things. You know how I feel about having sex before marriage so I don't know why you think I would suddenly—'

'Didn't you just tell me you were going to change? Percy asked, trying hard to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. He wasn't entirely sure he succeeded. 'This is what I'm talking about, Penny. You're right, I'm not a pervert. Having an interesting sex life isn't perverted, and it's what I need. If you really want any chance of staying my girlfriend then you need to become someone who enjoys sex, too, someone who likes and admires my tattoos and my piercings, someone who is happy for me to stay in the Department of Magical Transportation for the rest of my career or will be happy when I decide to leave the Ministry completely to go and work for Fred and George or whatever I decide to do in the future. I am _never_ going to be the Minister for Magic — you need to get your head round this.'

'I don't know you anymore,' Penny said sadly. She had finally stopped crying although she looked pale and drawn.

'You haven't known the real me for a long time,' Percy told her.

Penny shivered. 'Well, I'm going back to the house now. I think it's best that I don't stay. I'll pack my clothes and go home tonight.'

'I am sorry, Penny. I really am.' Percy's voice was soft and sympathetic now.

'You're right that I can't change, not overnight, and I don't think I could ever be what you want me to be however hard I tried. It just isn't me. I have to say that I do think you're ruining your life by letting this rebellious streak rule you, though. You had so much potential, Percy, and you threw it away — all the dreams we had — all gone because you wanted to prove some stupid point to your family.' She sounded angry now.

'My growth was never anything to do with my family,' Percy said. 'I've just become the person I want to be, someone that I like being. I don't believe I have any less potential, I just see my life going in a different direction. It's just a shame that you can't understand that and accept me for who I am now. That in itself proves that we're no longer suited as a couple.'

'Will you tell your mum and dad that I'm not feeling well and I need to go home?' Penny asked.

Percy nodded. 'Of course I will.' He gave her a small crooked smile. 'This really is for the best, you know.'

'I can't see it that way at the moment. Everything hurts too much,' Penny told him.

'I know and I'm sorry, but it will get better, I promise it will.'

Penny turned away to walk towards the kitchen door. Percy waited for a few seconds before following. There wasn't really anything else for them to say to each other, anyway. 

* * *

'Do you want a game of Exploding Snap, Hermione? Harry and I were thinking of playing.' Ron held the cards out to her.

Hermione shook her head and wrinkled her nose. 'I'm not really in the mood, to be honest. Sorry, Ron.'

He shrugged. 'No problem. I'll have a word with Bill and Charlie and see if they want to play instead. Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I'm still feeling a bit queasy from lunch but I'll be all right.' She gave Ron a small smile.

Ginny joined her and gently rubbed her arm. She could see that Hermione was getting stressed waiting for the outcome of Percy's talk with Penny.

'Exploding Snap?' Ron asked her. Ginny shook her head, too.

Ron walked off, leaving the two girls alone.

'They've been gone quite a while,' Hermione said.

'That's a good sign, though, surely?' Ginny asked, trying to reassure her friend. 'At least you know he's talking to her about it.'

'Of course, they might just be out there making up, instead,' Fred said mischievously. He and George had seen the two girls talking and come to join them.

George thumped his twin as he noticed Hermione's face fall at the comment.

'Don't talk rubbish, Fred. We all know it's Hermione that Percy wants. There's no way he's going to muck it up again. Even he's not that big a prat.'

Fred gave him a look that said he wasn't sure he believed him but then relented a little. 'I suppose you're right, although going on previous evidence I'd say he's every bit as much of a prat as I've always thought him.' He glanced at Hermione, spotting her unhappy face. 'Sorry, Hermione. I know you love him, but honestly—'

'Don't listen to Fred. You know what a wind-up merchant he is. Everything's going to be fine. I know it is,' Ginny assured her.

Hermione sighed. 'Fred's right, though, isn't he? Percy's track record hasn't been great so far.'

'He sometimes goes about it the wrong way but he always comes good in the end. I honestly don't think you've got anything to worry about,' Ginny said. She chuckled. 'Do you know what, this has actually made me feel a bit sorry for the Pig. I never thought I'd say that.'

'Oh god, we're awful people, aren't we, Percy and me?' Hermione groaned.

'That's not what I meant,' Ginny replied before Hermione had a chance to beat herself up any further. 'This has been coming on for a long time, Hermione. I told you this morning, Percy's changed and the Pig doesn't suit him, not that I think she ever did particularly. It's amazing she's hung on for as long as she has. No, I just feel bad that she had to find out today, but that's Percy's fault too, not yours, so there's no point in feeling guilty about it.'

'But if I hadn't—'

'Don't go down that road,' Ginny said sternly, cutting her off. 'I'm telling you he would have got rid of her sooner or later. It was her own fault for bleating on about how he was going to propose. It was always clear that Percy wasn't interested in marrying her. You don't spend eight years with someone without showing the slightest bit of interest in a wedding if you really want to marry them. It was like he was just waiting for a decent excuse rather than just dropping her because he didn't like her anymore.'

'A bit like me and Ron,' Hermione said.

'True, although you, at least, ended it straight away once you'd made your mind up. You didn't keep him hanging around like Percy did although, to be honest, you should have finished that relationship long before you did — I don't think there was ever any thought about you and Ron getting married, was there?'

'No. I actually think we stayed together because of laziness on both our parts. Neither of us could be bothered to end it so we never did. It was only because of Percy that I finally took action.'

'And now he's taking action, too. I don't know what's taking so long, though. How hard can it be to say "I don't like you anymore, go away"?'

Hermione winced. 'He wouldn't be that blunt about it. Gods, Ginny, I hope you and Harry never split up. The poor man would be traumatised.'

'Never going to happen. Harry and I are getting married next year,' Ginny told her smugly.

'You're getting married?' Hermione looked surprised.

Ginny grinned. 'Yeah, but this one's not a fantasy like Penny's. We've been talking about it for a while now, actually. We were thinking about going abroad, just the two of us having a nice beach wedding in Thailand or something, but I pointed out that Mum wouldn't be very happy if we did that and it's a bit much to expect everyone to up sticks and go with us — too expensive for one thing. Neither of us wants a big wedding, though, so I think we're just going to registry office it, and probably at short notice knowing us two.'

'How come we've never heard anything about this?' Fred asked.

'Yeah, Harry hasn't mentioned it either. I can't believe you haven't told your two favourite brothers,' George chimed in.

'Oh, Bill and Charlie know all about it,' Ginny told them wickedly. The twins looked indignant for a moment but laughed when she stuck her tongue out at them.

'Seriously, that's really great news. I'm not sure what your mum will think of a small wedding, though,' Hermione said before the twins could retaliate.

Ginny shrugged. 'She can go whistle. It's my wedding and I'll do what I want — and what Harry wants, of course. What sort of wedding are you and Percy going to have?'

'I haven't even thought about it,' Hermione said reproachfully. 'I only found out a couple of hours ago that the engagement ring was meant for me. I've never really considered marriage before but I'd want a quiet wedding, too, no fuss.'

'I suppose you never really had cause to think about it when you were with Ron,' Ginny mused.

Hermione shook her head. 'I think I used to think about it when I was about thirteen, like all girls do, but by the time we became a couple I couldn't actually see myself getting married.'

'I'm not surprised with Ron as a partner. He's absolutely hopeless.'

'He's actually really sweet, but he's definitely not a romantic, that's for sure,' Hermione admitted.

'Is Percy romantic?' Ginny asked, sounding interested.

'I think so,' Hermione said. 'More than Ron, anyway. Would you say Harry's a romantic?'

Ginny snorted loudly. 'Only as long as it involves Quidditch. I think every gift he's ever got me is related to that.'

'Yeah, but Harry knows you love Quidditch too, so that's why he does it. Let's face it, none of us are really Madam Puddifoot's material, are we?'

Ginny sighed. 'I know he tries, but something non-Quidditch related would make such a nice change. It's my job, I don't need it to be my whole life. I always quite fancied going in Madam Puddifoot's; the cakes looked nice.'

'Perhaps you should give him a hint,' Hermione suggested.

Ginny looked at her as if she was mad. 'Harry's as thick as Ron is on that sort of thing. You should know that by now.'

'I'll mention it to him,' Hermione promised. She suddenly looked anxious again. 'They're taking a long time aren't they?'

'Perhaps he's having trouble getting rid of her,' George suggested.

'Yeah, she's probably out there clinging to him and wailing like a banshee, begging Percy to give her another chance — trying to convince him that he still loves her,' Fred said.

Hermione gnawed on her bottom lip as she wondered whether Percy would give Penny another chance if she got really upset. He had already not wanted to tell her, especially today, so would he find it easier to relent and keep Penny happy rather than finally get rid of her once and for all? All she could do was wait and see, but the length of time it was taking was driving her mad.

Ginny held her hand and squeezed it. Hermione stared at her as Ginny said, 'Don't worry. It's going to be fine.'

'I wish I could be so sure.' Hermione sounded miserable now.

'I'm sure he won't be much longer. He's probably just calming her down or something. Knowing her, she's probably burst into tears.'

Hermione was a bit shocked at Ginny's callousness but she also knew she had never liked Penny so it shouldn't have been a surprise. She wondered what Mr and Mrs Weasley would say; Molly had always seemed to get on well with Penny and would surely be upset at the news. That made her wonder what they would think when Percy told them about her. She wasn't sure she was ready for that. She wasn't sure she was even ready to be his girlfriend. Now that seemed like such a huge step and it was making her feel sick again even thinking about it.

'Look!' Ginny nudged her as she squeezed her hand.

Percy was entering the lounge, looking grim-faced. He didn't look in their direction at all, instead searching for his parents. He discovered his mother sitting in a chair by the fire listening to the radio, a blissful look on her face as Celestina Warbeck warbled away. She and Arthur were enjoying this on their own, Molly not having made the same mistake she had a few years earlier of making everyone listen to it, which had caused more than a few complaints and an unkind imitation of the singer by Fleur afterwards.

He bent down by the side of her chair and leaned across to speak to her.

'Penny asked me to tell you that she's going home. She's not feeling well and wants to go back to her parents,' he told her quietly.

Molly looked at him with worry. 'Is she okay? What's the matter with her?' She remembered Hermione feeling ill earlier and became even more worried. 'Is she sick? Was it something to do with the dinner?' She had sudden visions of everyone falling ill, poisoned because of the meal she had cooked.

'Calm down, she's fine, just not feeling herself and she wants to go home. She's just gone to pack.'

'Are you sure she's not been sick, Percy? Hermione was sick earlier. Maybe it was something to do with the food.'

'It wasn't anything to do with the food,' Percy assured her. 'Hermione was just feeling over-full, not sick, and Penny's just not very happy at the moment and wants to see her parents.'

'I have to admit she hasn't seemed happy for the last few hours. She was really happy earlier when I was talking to her but her mood completely changed as the day went on,' Molly mused.

Percy nodded. Celestina had just made a long screeching note that meant there was no point speaking. When she had finished and the applause started he said, 'I'll let you listen to this. I just promised Penny I would tell you so you wouldn't worry. I'll talk to you about it more fully tomorrow.'

Molly spotted Hermione, who seemed to be perfectly well now, and slowly began to stop worrying about whether she had made everyone ill. She patted Percy's hand.

'Tell her I hope she cheers up soon. It was lovely to see her. Thank her for our presents.'

'I will.'

Percy relaxed a bit himself. He had been worried that his mother would be more inquisitive about why Penny was leaving and he silently thanked the fact that Celestina Warbeck, terrible as she was, had stopped his mother from asking more questions. He had a lot to tell both his parents, but it could wait until the morning.

He desperately wanted to talk to Hermione but he had a duty to see Penny safely away first. He glanced towards her, noticing that she looked a bit anxious, and gave her a smile. Fred and George were both looking at him and made the double thumbs-up sign again. Percy gave a slight nod as he made his way back to the door to go and find Penny.

'Told you,' George said smugly.

'So where's he gone now?' Fred asked.

'Hopefully, going to make sure the Pig leaves,' Ginny said.

'Ginny!' Hermione glared at her. 'Stop being so mean.'

'Well, hopefully I'm never going to see her again after today so this is the last chance I'll get. Don't ruin all my fun,' Ginny said.

Hermione shook her head in disbelief as Fred and George both laughed.

'You're all so mean to her.'

'I can't believe you're still being so nice,' Fred told her.

'It doesn't hurt to be nice, especially when she's as upset as she probably is right now. As Ginny said, we probably won't see her again so now's the time to drop the pig thing.'

'Spoilsport,' Ginny batted back. Hermione shook her head again. 'So what now?'

'We wait,' Hermione said simply.


	9. Chapter 8

Penny hardly even looked at Percy as he handed her the suitcase he had carried downstairs for her. There was nothing more to say and no fond farewells to be made. He watched as she Disapparated, then stood in the cold night air for a few minutes as he tried to decide what to do next.

He really needed to talk to Hermione, to finally say all those things she hadn't let him say before; to tell her just how much he loved her, how much he had always loved her now he considered it properly. Then he would ask her to marry him, certain that even though their relationship was only just starting she would accept, understanding like him just how right they were for each other.

The ring! He had to get the ring, and then he had to get Hermione alone.

Percy would have liked to propose to her in front of his family, but as half of them didn't yet know anything about him and Hermione being a couple it wasn't a great idea. It was going to be hard enough explaining to his parents what had happened tomorrow, when everyone would be winding down from Christmas, and he still didn't know exactly what he was going to say. Trying to do so tonight would be a disaster and needed to be avoided at all costs. He went back indoors and made his way quickly to his bedroom to collect the small box containing the precious ring he had bought only a few weeks before. He put it in his jeans pocket and began to descend the stairs slowly, calming his breathing as he went.

As Percy re-entered the lounge he was aware of several pairs of eyes watching him carefully and he was certain he could feel the tension in the air — stronger, if anything, than it had been before. Coolly, he wandered over to join the watchers.

'Penny's gone home. She's not feeling too good,' he announced blandly to the group.

'Nothing serious, I hope?' Ginny said, not disguising the smirk on her face. Hermione gave her a small frown, but she just shrugged.

'She'll get over it,' Percy said. He looked at Hermione. 'Hermione, will you go for a walk with me?'

Hermione stared back for a moment, then smiled. 'Yes, why not? It's nice evening for a stroll.'

'Are you mental? It's freezing out there,' Fred supplied.

Hermione turned to look at him. Sweetly she said, 'Don't worry, Fred, I've got a thick coat and some gloves.'

She heard George and Ginny snickering as Fred elbowed his twin, although he was laughing, too.

Hermione followed Percy to the door.

'Won't everyone wonder where we've gone?' she asked worriedly.

'Unlikely. Mum and dad are listening to Celestina still and the others are all playing Exploding Snap. They won't care what we're up to. Everyone else knows.'

'I won't be a minute,' Hermione told him as she dashed upstairs to get her coat and boots.

Percy slowly pulled his coat from the pile by the door and began to put it on, his mind suddenly playing overtime with anxiety. What if Hermione had changed her mind? What if she had got so fed up with his prevarication that she no longer wanted to have anything to do with him and her refusal to discuss it until Penny had gone was just an excuse to not have to tell him the truth?

It wouldn't change his mind on anything that had happened. He had been absolutely correct in what he had told Penny; he had changed far too much for them ever to remain a couple. But the idea of facing this new life alone without Hermione at his side suddenly didn't seem anywhere near as appealing as it had when he was telling Penny about it. Of course, he would never go and work for Fred and George; there was more chance of him becoming the Minister for Magic and, as he had told Penny that was firmly off his agenda. But there were other jobs outside the Ministry that he might one day consider, if he had Hermione's love and support.

The rest of his entire life hinged on the upcoming conversation. No wonder he was so nervous.

'Are you ready?' Hermione asked. She touched Percy's arm, pulling him out of his reverie.

He smiled at her and led her into the kitchen, reaching for the back door.

'Fred's right, it's absolutely bloody freezing out there. Do you want to go to the barn?'

Hermione considered for a moment, then nodded her agreement. 'All right.'

They walked towards the barn, the icy grass crackling beneath them as they walked. The anxiety that was like a tight band across his chest eased a little as Percy took Hermione's hand and she didn't try to pull away. That was a hopeful sign, surely?

Hermione shivered once they were in the barn.

'Brrr. You were right. It's freezing out there. It would be okay if it wasn't for that wind.'

Percy smiled and pulled her towards him, his arm wrapping around her waist and holding her close.

'I'll keep you warm,' he promised, and then he kissed her.

Hermione wrapped her arms around him in return, the tension that had built up inside her slowly draining away as the kiss continued. Penny was gone and now she and Percy could be together at last. She realised with a feeling of exhilaration that they were now both single and could do exactly as they pleased without having to worry about what anyone else thought. It was total bliss!

The kissing went on for several long minutes but eventually they broke apart, although they stood facing each other, still holding hands.

'Penny's finally gone,' Percy confirmed with a smile, needing to say it so it would be a truth that would set up everything that came after.

Hermione smiled back, although there was a cautionary look about it. 'I know, you said before. Was she okay? I mean, I know she's upset; of course she would be under the circumstances, but—' She broke off as Percy shook his head.

'She took it pretty hard,' he admitted quietly. 'I never realised that she had planned the wedding and everything. She never mentioned it to me, no more than the odd occasional wistful mention of weddings that I assumed all women did. I tried to explain to her but she really doesn't understand that I've changed. She thinks it's just me rebelling against my parents for what happened before the war.

'I had to be pretty brutal with her in the end. I have to admit it didn't make me feel good. To be honest, I don't think it would have made much difference when I told her, she would still have reacted the same and I think it would still have ruined her Christmas even if I had told her weeks ago. I get the feeling it's going to take her a long time to regain a true perspective on the world. But she's gone now and I really don't want to think about her anymore.

'Hermione, I wasn't lying when I told you that I knew during that night we spent together that I wanted to be with you. Far from it. Actually, I've known for far longer than that, years probably.' Percy shook his head ruefully. 'I should have split up with Penny and asked you out a long time ago but I was—'

'An idiot,' Hermione suggested, although she was smiling as she said it.

Percy nodded again. 'I _was_ an idiot. To think I wasted all that time with her when I could have been with you. I could kick myself.'

She squeezed his hand. 'There's no point lamenting over what's gone. There's nothing we can do about that. It's the future that's important now, isn't it?'

He smiled. 'You're right, of course, and I really hope we'll have a great future together. If you'll have me.'

'Of course I will,' Hermione told him. 'That was what all this was about, wasn't it? I told you that night I was yours and I meant it, although I don't know what the rest of your family will think when they find out.'

Percy pulled her towards him and gave her a small kiss on the lips.

'I'm fully expecting them to be like Ginny and the twins. They didn't think Penny and I were suited and there's no reason to think any of the others did, either. I have a feeling some of the other revelations might be more shocking, for my mother at least.'

Hermione giggled. 'Does this mean you're finally going to tell them about the piercings and the tattoos?'

'Yes, I think it's time. I don't want to keep them hidden any longer, not now that I don't have to. I assume you have no objection to me revealing their existence?'

He poked out his tongue, showing the newly revealed stud.

'You know I love your piercings . . . and your tattoos. Are you going to be sharing them all?' She grinned wickedly.

'I think showing the Chinese Fireball on my leg will be safe enough and, obviously, the tongue stud, and they'll see the nipple bars the next time I'm topless, although I will mention them in passing. I don't mind them knowing about the skull, too, although obviously I'm not going to be whipping down my pants to show anyone. The P.A. can remain our little secret, I think.'

'Your mum is going to have a fit,' Hermione said. 'The fact that you and I are a couple might slip by almost completely undetected after that.'

'Not if we've got a wedding to arrange,' Percy suggested insouciantly, 'although I completely understand if you want to leave it a few years before planning anything. After all, we have only just got together.'

Hermione could feel her heart beating faster. Percy was talking about marriage. Oh god, was this really happening to her? She almost couldn't believe it despite knowing he had an engagement ring for her.

He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out the small black box, then sank to one knee.

'Hermione, will you marry me?' Percy asked hopefully.

Hermione stared at him for several very long seconds, not entirely sure that her heart hadn't stopped beating, then she nodded her head.

'Yes! Yes, Percy. I will marry you . . . as soon as you want me to.'

Relieved, he let out the breath he had been holding and opened the ring box to reveal a platinum v-shaped bezel-set solitaire diamond ring.

'It's beautiful!' Hermione exclaimed happily.

In fact, her breath was completely taken away at quite how amazing the ring was. It was much more beautiful and far more graceful than anything she had imagined in the hours since she had discovered the ring was for her, and it was so obviously an engagement ring that there was no way Penny could have possibly mistaken it for anything else.

For a moment Hermione felt a pang of sympathy for the other woman, understanding totally how elated she must have felt on discovery of the beautiful ring; the final tangible proof of Percy's love for her and the realisation of all those dreams of weddings and fairy-tale marriages that she had been cherishing and planning for so long. She felt, too, the pain the poor woman would have felt at having her dreams torn away so completely and the horror of knowing that she had lost both them and Percy forever. It was almost unbearable.

'You're more beautiful,' Percy said, pulling her thoughts away from Penny and back to the barn as he slid the ring onto her finger. It wasn't quite a perfect fit, but it was close.

Hermione stared at her hand and he could see tears in her eyes. He stood up and moved towards her.

'I love you so much, Hermione. Merry Christmas, my love.'

'I love you, too,' she whispered. 'Merry Christmas, Percy.'

Percy wrapped his arms around her. 'We don't need any mistletoe this time.'

'We got it anyway,' Hermione said sounding resigned. She pointed above them to the clump that had just appeared over their heads.

'Just snog the girl, for Merlin's sake,' Fred announced loudly.

Hermione and Percy both rolled their eyes.

'Best advice he's given all day,' Percy said with a smile as his mouth moved to capture hers.

Around them came the sounds of whistles and catcalls from the twins and Ginny but Hermione and Percy didn't notice, wrapped in each other's arms caring about nothing but each other.

* * *

A/N: _Thank you once again for reading if you've made it to the end. If you're interested in seeing the ring Percy gave Hermione you can find a picture of it on my blog, which I use to announce new stories etc._ _— the link is in my profile as I'm not sure if I can post it in the stories._


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